Dahl cared enough about the particular words he wrote that he had rows with his editors about them when they were being written/published.
They should be left to stand or fall on their own merit.
My instant response to hearing that was to take our copies out of the charity shop box, pack them up to put in the attic so that any grandchildren I have don't have to endure the abominations that are the modern versions of classics including Dahl.
There are good writers for children nowadays, but just as there were few books good enough to become classics in the past, the majority of the current crop are rubbish too.
Very few are likely to still be known in fifty or a hundred years time.
Most of the classics have been dumbed down, or 'cleaned up' to the point they are pale shadows of themselves & not worth reading.
Is it any surprise when you wrap a child in cotton wool, never letting them read anything that might shock them or cause them to think (which was written at a time when it was acceptable) that they arrive at Uni & jump into harmful cancel culture behaviour?
Children do need to be challenged.
They know the world is not fair & that bad things happen, or that not every person is lovely.
They don't need to be shielded from opposing views at every turn.
They can disagree with what is written or said & should learn the skills to do so.
You can't do that if you never hear more than the party line.
They can learn (just as kids learned years back) to read words with more than two syllables, or about attitudes people used to have without the distastefully sanitised trash that passes as sensitivity reader approved drivel.
Children need to be told not to use particular words which now have different meanings.
They have to hear the word to know what not to say, especially when e.g. nowadays it is common for some of those words to be frequently used in music, but only allowed for certain sections of the population without getting in trouble.
They shouldn't be limited to just the words their parents & peer group use, so they need guidance on what is acceptable or not, along with the skills to learn a broader vocabulary than is being plated up for them.
Sensitivity readers are a stain on society.
They make the film Idiocracy look more like a snapshot from the future than the not actually all that good film it was.
Funny how they don't seem to have an issue with VAWG.
There are entire genres based on murdering mostly women, but apparently that's fine.
This makes me so angry.
Leave the talented Mr Dahls work alone & if you don't appreciate his stories, there are plenty of other books you can read where you won't ever have to think, or come up against an idea you don't agree with.
Sensitivity readers are leeches, sucking on the talent of a deceased man to do this.