I say! Hodder Children’s are updating Enid Blyton’s Famous Five to encourage a “new generation of readers“.
Super!
New contemporary covers, changing “mother and father” to “mum and dad”, “school tunic” to “uniform”. Dastardly stuff.
My personal favourite? “Awful swatter” now becomes “bookworm”.
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
Dastardly stuff indeed, Keenan. I always say if you want to read Enid Blyton go to the second hand shops (or even trademe) and make sure you get editions from around the sixties–before the times when they decided to “sanitise” Blyton’s books. Sanitisation was bad enough; these changes are inexcusable. The books are period pieces and should have as much right to reflect their period as, say, Jane Austen’s work.
I agree, they are period pieces and I really cannot understand why we would want to change them.
This is pretty uncool. It reminds me of the Sweet Valley High revision scandal – the twins got made skinnier causing a storm of controversy: http://thereadingzone.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/sweet-valley-high-a-necessary-re-release/
Yikes, way to limit children’s vocabulary! Blyton is as popular as ever without being “updated”; this seems rawther unnecessary.
I guess the ginger-beer will be replaced by Coke or Pepsi.
Personally, I’d love to see a zombie version of the Five go Mad series. “Anywone fow Bwains?”
Before you good people get the pip, Hodder are at pains to reassure Famous Five fans that the unmodified text will still be available for purchase in a special classic edition. Excellent news for those of us that adore arcane slang and vintage misogyny!
When was the last time you read a Famous Five book? I read quite afew of them to my daughter when she was little. They were shocking! CYFS should have been notified.Kids running around unsupervised, drinking ginger beer and eating hard-boiled eggs and being kidnapped or locked up every hols.
My Son really enjoyed the classic version of The famous five, he especially enjoyed the lanuage!
The word Gay took on a whole new meaning and Fanny and Dick as some persons name provided side splitting hilarity.