And talking of picture books! Spot the difference between these two photos of children's book illustrator Clement Hurd.Yes, I'm sorry that my title gave the game away. The picture that will appear on the cover of the new edition of Margaret Wise Brown's classic Goodnight Moon has been digitally altered to keep pace with changing times, reports the New York Times.
Just wondered if you think this is taking political correctness a little too far?
Update:
Apparently Satre has suffered the same fate ...
5 comments:
not at all, cigarettes r bad & smoking is bad! :)
i think it is. yes cigarettes are bad but digitally removing them isn't going to stamp out smoking all together. of course this is debatable since he's a CHILDREN's book illustrator.
Before anyone jumps at my comments, let me first declare that I am a mother and a non smoker.
Digitally removing the cigarette is blatant censorship. I just wondered whether he agreed to it. Or perhaps he agreed, knowing that this debate would start - after all even those who did not see the original photo would wonder whether there was a cig - its a very strange posture otherwise.
To me it does not matter that he is a children's author and that this is in the back of a children's book. Chances are most kids have a parent that smokes. A photo on a book is hardly going to make a difference. What is more important is that children are made aware of what is dangerous and can make informed decisions. What worries me more is the amount of violence and horror one sees on TV even before 7pm, for example trailers that are shown during kid's shows/documentaries on terrestrial TV!
I have more problems trying to deal with that with my child, than the smoking issue.
Animah
it's a tough one this - and i bet the publishers were thinking that they'd be condemned whichever decision they made - but i'd leave the cigarette in if it were my call ...
So would everyone. But it makes more sense to take it out because you probably want maximum sales potential. It won't make a difference but people who are against smoking won't be turned off by it. Ordinarily I think controversy and conflict is good for selling adult fiction, but for children's fiction of that nature you want to create a sort of fantasy world where everything is nice and warm and cuddly (and ciggies do not fit in there anywhere.)
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