'The publishers should seriously consider the changes in social mores and the unacceptability of cruelty or ill-treatment, especially as fun, by today's readers no matter how well intentioned.' 'He was finally taken out, foaming at the mouth with lust for murder'Īspects of the 385 stories, written over 50 years, translated into 17 languages and at one stage outsold only by the Bible, are no longer suitable, said Siobhan Lavelle, of the National Canine Defence League. In William and the League, Jumble is put into a pen to kill rats and maul another dog. 'Jumble was deaf and blind to everything but the ecstasy of chasing these large foolish white creatures who did not seem to realise their size who joy of joys, miracle of miracles! were afraid of him of him!' In the Stolen Whistle, William sets his usually placid mongrel Jumble on to a flock of terrified sheep. They levy a penny entrance fee on children to see a fox terrier dog painted blue. Offending stories include the Show, where William persuades his gang, the Outlaws, to hold an exhibition to buy money for bows and arrows. Fears that impressionable readers might be led astray have prompted calls for William's subversion of middle-class, inter-war England, to be tamed.
In line with the government's call to use more 'boy friendly' books, schools and libraries are expected to snap up the series in the hope of wooing male pupils turned off by romantic literature.īut the anarchic, scruffy schoolboy has blundered into a political correctness battlefield. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Richmal Crompton's first Just William story, Rice Mould, the publishers Macmillan are releasing 20 books with facsimile jackets and launching a series of abridged stories for six- to eight-year-olds.
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