Posted on 11/17/2005 12:12:01 PM PST by freepatriot32
In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.
In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.
HarperCollins said it made the change to avoid the appearance of encouraging smoking and did so with the permission of the illustrator's estate. But Mr. Hurd's son, also a children's book illustrator and author, said he felt pressured to allow it. And the move has touched off something of a tempest in the nursery, with some children's booksellers expressing outrage. One has even mounted a campaign to have the original picture restored.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Who is that they removed?
Ditto. There are no pics of people in our copy.
I love that book. My oldest daughter used to take her chubby little finger and point out the mouse on each page. It's been a favorite through five kids.
Becasue they are not just altering the picture on the bac of the book they are removing picture illitrations from the book itselfI don't think there was really an ashtray in the original. The writer was just saying there is no ashtray in the great green room.
In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free
The illustrations haven't been altered, just the picture of the illustrator.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051117-021845-1230r
The doctored photo has come under fire from a group of children's booksellers and one has even mounted a campaign to have the original picture restored.
HarperCollins Children's Books Editor Kate Jackson said it was nothing more than a "quick fix" to what was viewed as a "potentially a harmful message to very young kids."
Hurd said the doctored photo of his dad with nothing but air between his extended fingers looks "slightly absurd to me," adding Brown and his father "would be thoroughly amused by this."
"Goodnight Moon" celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2007.
Gee, now the guy looks like he is just in a stupid pose. Who stands around with their hand up like that? This is so stupid. The man smoked, deal with it. Does this mean my copy of the book is worth more now?
Instead of smoking, maybe they will teach the kids to have strange tics with their hands.
Thing that seems so stupid to me is the fact that all they had to do was crop the picture to eliminate the cigarette.
Bibliopath ping.
Margaret Wise Brown's books are a genuine pleasure to read to children.
"...But the cabbage didn't answer. It just sat there in its great, green silence..."
"...Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush."
"...Is it a walrus's house? Or a hat's house?"
Ping.
I must have read this book to my son hundreds of times. Never noticed a cigarette. At this point, it just calls attention to it. These people need to find something to occupy their time. And, no, I don't smoke---never have.
I must have read this book to my son hundreds of times. Never noticed a cigarette. At this point, it just calls attention to it. These people need to find something to occupy their time. And, no, I don't smoke---never have.
He was going to find a home for a bunny, a home of his own, under a rock, under a stone ... where would a bunny find a home?
#1 Son's favorite book as a toddler - at one point, the whole family could recite it on cue. We found the book recently, but #4 Son threw it on the floor and yelled "Trucks!" He likes "The Diggers," though.
They didn't replace them with lollipops - but a number of famous photos of FDR have been airbrushed to remove his cigarette....including, I believe, the one used for his postage stamp.
Whoa, that guy is rather close to that wall cloud.
This could be a good thing if they used it to erase the Clintons from our collective memories.
As my young teen laments, "Why couldn't I have been born to grow up during the Reagan years?"
> No one could read that book like Christopher Walkin.
Or me :)
My kids never noticed the cig...
"So, I am almost unaffected by this crap."
That's just for now, you must realize.
Some things are hard-wired in certain people -- the response to melodies like the Pachelbel Canon, or poems like Jabberwocky, or Goodnight Moon.
Next thing you know, you won't be able to buy the book just because the author was a known smoker.
Just like Little Black Sambo. Try to find that one anywhere.
It is available online.
The idiot liberals in my college town are pushing to enforce a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places including bars and restaurants. They are also defining 'enclosed public place' as anywhere within 20 feet of a building. This would effectively mean that you cannot smoke at all downtown (unless you smoke in the middle of main street) where the majority of the bars are clustered. I dont see that going over very well.
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