Trigger warnings put on classic childrens books at Cambridge University

It does seem a bit "over the top" BUT I remember reading an old Enid Blyton book to my daughter 35 years ago (I think it was Mr Pinkwhistle) and having to edit some of the passages about beating a donkey etc. Times change, what is considered acceptable has to be re-thought and I think on the whole I'm not too upset about it.

I think it's a good thing. Just because we read them when young, doesn't make their views acceptable to modern readers.

I discovered a series of old childhood favourites in a second hand bookshop two summers ago. In a rush I bought them and started to look through them on the bus home. I was so saddened to find that what I remembered was actually really awful.

Sorry, That should read :
that what I remembered wasn’t actually wonderful to read as the stories were actually really awful.

It was really shocking to think that as a child the way the stories were told was quite acceptable at the time.

Books we, our children and grandchildren read and saw no harm in them

Speak for yourself, with your woke brigade gone mad goading.

Your opening sentence refers to harmful content - so why should there not be warnings to parents as to the potential insulting, racist, discriminatory language contained in a book?

Yes, it is often a let down to re read a book enjoyed in childhood. Hopefully we are more aware now of hurting other people's feelings, so the book feels all different.
Plus, Enid Blyton can hardly be classed as classic literature. They were just good (at the time) yarns.

I used to love Little House on the Prairie books, but reading them again the attitude of the family towards native Americans was appalling.

It doesn’t bother me. Like Trisha57 I had to edit the books that I was read in my youth, when years later I read them to my sons. I had to edit out bits for various reasons, sexist attitudes, racism etc. Even little house of the prairie rereading as an adult had some rather nasty stereotypes of Native Americans.

The books aren’t being censored but just making parents and buyers aware.

Ilovecheese sorry didn’t see your post when I wrote mine, but agree completely. I loved those books as a child but was a bit shocked when I reread them to my boys.

It's not a new thing, I had a book of original fairy tales as a child and the same stories has already been changed drastically then to be more young person friendly.

When we were children, our dad read us The Wind on the Moon, by Eric Linklater. I thought it would be good to buy it for my grandchildren, but when I re-read it, and found a reference to children being spanked, and decided not to hand it on to the new generation.

Apologies for dodgy syntax in that post. Wish we had an 'edit' facility.

Riverwalk

^Books we, our children and grandchildren read and saw no harm in them^

Speak for yourself, with your woke brigade gone mad goading.

Your opening sentence refers to harmful content - so why should there not be warnings to parents as to the potential insulting, racist, discriminatory language contained in a book?

Harsh words!!! I am certainly not into 'woke brigade mad goading'. I also never implied that there shouldnt be warnings in books about potential insulting, racist, discriminatory language contained in a book either!

So what was the point of your thread?

I've still got the Strùwwelpeter book from my childhood. I read it to my DC and they loved it. There's no way I'd read it to my GC. The language and pictures are now totally inappropriate.

The books are being given 'trigger warnings' in an archive, though. The books in the archive aren't there for people to read to their children and grandchildren, they're there to be used for academic study.

In that case, I think that trigger warnings are a bit ridiculous. Students can't be sheltered from encountering the past for ever.

MaizieD I agree, but I think they are doing that to prevent outcries which might result in the books being removed completely.
How will people ever know things have improved if there’s no record of how it used to be?

When my grandkids were small I decided to get my favourite Enid Blyton books out well I ended up censoring so much
I practically re wrote the whole stories Mum was spanking children she was in the kitchen smoking a cigarette there were inappropriate dolls running round.
It was awful
I think it’s a good idea to put a warning on them

As an aside has anyone else seen that there are alerts on some Amazon films that there is smoking in the film?

No, but surprised is something I'm not SueD

Riverwalk

So what was the point of your thread?

I thought people would be interested and it was a good topic to discuss, there was no hidden agenda. Shame some think otherwise and attack the poster!

With statues, paintings and films being targets of the woke brigade it was only a matter of time before books had their turn. As an only child I found endless entertainment in books and still do in my 70's. Nobody can change history. It's happened, it's been and gone. All we can do is to learn from it and try to build a better future. An alert at the beginning of a book is fine by me but I wouldn't want to see some of the classics banned altogether. People can make up their own minds.

Surely it's better just to explain that anything written in the past may be very different to what is acceptable today because attitudes have changed. I'm sure every book has something that will offend someone, no need to target every single thing.

When we read to our children or gc we are always careful to edit bits out we don’t think are suitable. That can also include missing out bits or avoiding books with things we know they are scared of.

I think it is wrong to expurgate such books and I agree with MaizieD students can’t be sheltered from the past forever. These books show us what life was like then, what was acceptable then, and how we have moved on. Not only that but this is also ridiculous because of the cost to the tax payer when there are so many deserving needs.