Ds1 absolutely loved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and I want to give him other classics to read. I thought Around the World in 80 Days might be a good one, but on skimming it I realised that a lot of the attitudes and terminology would be considered unacceptable nowadays. Racist, sexist, class-ist, and imperialist. TBH, the only one I have any concerns with is the racism. IMO it is necessary to understand class-division and imperialism in order to have a proper understanding of our British heritage. And the book is not, of itself, racist - it simply reflects what was the normal language of the time.
But ds is very impressionable. He knows that not everything he reads in a book is fact, but he doesn't know when it is and when it isn't. He's only 8. I want him to have the freedom to read by himself, without having me looking over his shoulder and telling him what to think. I also want him to read well-written texts. Sometimes, when I read modern childrens' books, I cringe at the sloppy grammar and pathetic use of language.
So what do I do? Give him books which are wonderful stories wonderfully written, and accept that he may make bizarre and dated assumptions about our world, or shift those books to the top shelf and hope that, by the time he is tall enough to read them, he will be old enough to understand what is and isn't acceptable?