When I was a boy, I used to love reading Enid Blyton's Famous Five adventures. I later rediscovered the books when I read them to my children. Now The Daily Mail reports that sixty years after they were first published, the much-loved books are being revamped for a new generation of children.
Publisher Hodder believes classic Blyton words and phrases are turning off 21st century young readers and need some 'sensitive revising'.
Goodness knows what Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog would make of it, but exclamations such as ' wizard!' and 'pooh-hah' have been dropped from the text altogether.
Words such as 'jolly' and 'guffaw', which the publishers say are seldom used by youngsters nowadays, also fall by the wayside. In the original text, for example, Dick says: 'She must be jolly lonely all by herself.' This has been updated to read: 'She must get lonely all by herself'. Full article >>
COMMENT
What do you think? Should classic works of literature be updated for a new audience, or should they be left as they are?
ALSO READ
• Enid Blyton's Famous Five get 21st-century makeover (Guardian)
• Leave Enid Blyton's potboilers alone (Guardian)
• The Famous Five (EnidBlyton.net)
• The Famous Five (The Enid Blyton Society)
• Five Go Mad on Mephedrone (English Language @ SFX)
VOCABULARY
To update, to revamp and to give something a makeover all mean pretty much the same thing. Update and revamp can also be used as nouns.
