More than a dozen titles belonging to the Goosebumps series have been relaunched and these are slightly different from the original versions. Among the changes introduced, though minor at best, includes the removal or change of those portions that have references to health, weight, and ethnicity. The changes however are being introduced even though more than four million copies of the titles have already been sold. As it is, Goosebumps happen to be the second highest-selling book series in the world after Harry Potter.
As the website News Sky reported, there have been more than 100 edits made in the popular children’s horror stories. Instances of changes made include using the word ‘cheerful’ to replace ‘plump’ or using ‘Crazy’ instead of ‘silly’. Apart from these, portions that had mentions of villains making their victims ‘slaves’ have also been changed. As publishers Scholastic stated, such titles are being sold as edited e-books. All of this comes on the back of widespread criticism against such edits made on the pretext of making the titles have equal appeal among all children.
Booker Prize-winning author Sir Salman Rushdie has described such acts as ‘absurd censorship’. British PM Rishi Sunak too has condemned the act claiming rewriting such classics and echoed the Big Friendly Giant’s warning that authors shouldn’t ‘gobblefunk’ around with words.’
Penned by author RL Stine, the first of the Goosebumps novels was released back in 1992. Among the most popular titles in the series include Say Cheese And Die!, Welcome to Camp Nightmare, The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, and Deep Trouble, to name a few.
In spite of the ongoing row against what is being described as censorship in publishing, a few James Bond novels written by Ian Fleming are also known to have been edited to remove references to terms like race. The edited titles are set for release later in the year.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
