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Original poster

+++++ WARNING - ROALD DAHL, MY UNCLE OSWALD ++++++

161 replies

Somanybabyseagulls · 19/10/2006 09:53

11 year old dd came home from school yesterday with this book. She didn't read the back or flick through inside but hadn't seen this in our local library before.

This book was apparently his foray into adult writing. References to 'huge and long-lasting erections' are made in the first few pages, you can guess the rest. Anyway, I have obviously complained to the school and I am destroying the book. The school obviously apologied and like many of us assumed that any Roald Dahl book would be suitable for any school library.

Please be aware that this book was supplied by a reputable school book supplier (the school would not give me their name) so I urge you all to contact your school library to ensure no one elses child has access to this book.

OP posts:
hulababy · 20/10/2006 08:53

LOL misdee - I remember the book Forever. Was a waiting list here too. I was about 13-14 when I read that I think, thought myself very grown up

ghosty · 20/10/2006 09:02

I read The Thorn Birds when I was 12 ... my mum knew .

Silly mistake of the school. Not the book's fault.

belgo · 20/10/2006 09:05

The Thorn Birds recently got repeated on Belgian TV, I can't believe the first time I saw it I was eight years old. Don't think I understood half of it then.

ghosty · 20/10/2006 09:08

LOL Belgo ...
Steamy Richard Chamberlain and Rachel whatsit ...

belgo · 20/10/2006 09:10

I certainly watched it with adult eyes this time round - can't believe my mum let me watch it when I was eight (especially being catholic ourselves) Don't think it harmed me!

belgo · 20/10/2006 09:12

I think I might search out some adult Roald Dahl in the library. Curious to see what all the fuss is about.

Sophiev73 · 20/10/2006 09:24

My school library has a 14+ section which can be accessed by younger pupils if they have written permission from their parents. I have to say I'm stunned that any librarian wouldn't know all about Dahl. Ours are fab and I'm just as stunned they earn so little!! Extra big box of chocs at Christmas for them...
LOL at 'Ralph' .. Judy Blume was my only point of reference until I watched 'The Blue Lagoon' at a friends house. Am still reeling from the shock.

Sophiev73 · 20/10/2006 09:24

AAARGH!! Friend's !!!!!

DumbledoresGirl · 20/10/2006 09:28

Haven't got time to read this so I don't know if it has been mentioned, but The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and other short stories also purports to be for children yet contains a story I remember graphically from when I first read it as a teenager about a boy being tortured on the railway line by others (sort of Jamie Bulger like but without a death) - not really what many people would want children reading.

he also wrote 2 sets of poems which appear to be for children. One is fine (Revolting Rhymes is it?) but the other (Dirty Beasts?) also contains sexual references parents might find unsuitable.

HumphreyComfreyCushion · 20/10/2006 09:34

Ah yes, 'The Blue Lagoon'!

Teenage sex and pregnancy, plus a staple diet of coconuts!

It was the first 'grown-up' film I was allowed to watch.

Very tame compared to movies nowadays, but I remember thinking I was very cool, as my friends weren't allowed to watch it.

Sophiev73 · 20/10/2006 09:35

Your parents v cool Humphrey. Mine would have collapsed from shock if they'd known...

HumphreyComfreyCushion · 20/10/2006 09:46

Sophie - my parents were far from cool!

But my parents videoed it from the television, and said I could watch it when I babysat for my younger sisters.

They didn't know about the content until a long time afterwards!

Socci · 20/10/2006 09:53

Message withdrawn

LadyDooM · 20/10/2006 10:03

TheBlairAitchProject: I loved V.C Andrews books, I owned nearly every one of them.

Im not understanding the big deal about destroying this book, its not a rare book. Im sure there are hundreds of copies. I am concerned that this was in a school library and would not want my daughter to read about erections and such. In america there was a list of books that were banned from school libraries. Some I could understand being banned, others well they were the things I read as a child and I couldn't see any reason for them to be banned.

www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

LadyDooM · 20/10/2006 10:11

www.ala.org/ala/pio/piopresskits/bbbwpresskit/bannedchallenged.htm

sorry, here is one of the lists

PretendFriend · 20/10/2006 10:16

Number 4 in that list - To Kill a Mockingbird. Tells you all you need to know really

TheBlairAitchProject · 20/10/2006 13:16

Eloise In Paris???!!!! ye gods, i do worry for our american cousins.

Iklboo · 20/10/2006 13:19

How can they ban To Kill A Mockingbird??

How can they ban BOOKS??

Didn't Hitler do that (and burn them?)

Sophiev73 · 20/10/2006 13:23

God, the idea of a banned list depresses me, was going to look until 'Mockingbird' was mentioned - a set text in our schools in the UK for GCSE. If the rest are like that I really can't be bothered to look. Ignorance knows no bounds...

AlfredAitchcock · 20/10/2006 13:27

to be fair i'm not sure it's banned so much as on the list of restricteds, from what i saw of the utterly depressing document. curious incident of the dog in the night time and the colour purple also dubious, evidently. and eloise in paris??! Humphreyscushion, help a girl out here... why would that be bann-abble? (not a real word but am in state of shock)

Flamebat · 20/10/2006 13:31

In tears reading that list.

How can they do that???? WTF is wrong with these people????

lemonAIIEEE · 20/10/2006 13:36

They aren't all books that were actually banned -- they are books that have been "challenged" i.e. some officious busybody has objcted to their being stocked in public libraries in his/her county/state/whatever. Librarians being librarians, very few of them will have actually been banned.

Flamebat · 20/10/2006 13:41

Still that people WANT books such as The Grapes of Wrath banned is enough for me

EnidVorhees · 20/10/2006 13:43

My Uncle Oswald isn't that bad

fgs

is she doing Chaucer? They kiss erse in that. And f*ck queyntes

PinkTulips · 20/10/2006 14:04

dumbledores girl, i read that story quite young and could never remember where, just had flashbacks to it at odd times, eventually decided i'd had some wierd dream because of the bulgar killing. not sure if i'm relieved or horrified that it's real!

as for the op, i was 11/12 by the time my friends and i were handing out copies of the flowers in the attic and her other books, and i'd read forever in primary school along with every other book in the kids section of our library and let me tell you there were more than a few that made referance to sex!

destroying a book is a crime imo, if you hate it that much just give it away to an adult or your local library.