Heads up! You will LOVE this Pearls trbezyhfbz Before Swine comic featuring Humpty Dumpty (and his lawyers) today! This is not just some wacky notion of where our world is going. Recall that in 2009, we noted that a British  TV program was actually assuring children that, “All the kings horses and all the kings men […]
Archive | Censorship
Is Thomas the The Tank Engine on Crack?
Hi drizbfdnsi Folks! Got this letter in response to the post about “Fannie” and “Dick” becoming Frannie and Rick in the updated Enid Blyton oeuvre. (Hardest thing  to spell since “hors d’oeuvres.” Which, come to think of it, is the same word.)  Anyway, this note comes to us from Sarah Thompson, who describes herself […]
“When Dick and Fannie became Rick and Frannie” – Guest Post!
Hi byhknnebay Readers! I’d never yeard of Enid Blyton, but I’m sure a lot of you have. So enjoy this essay by Kate Browne, a journalist based in Sydney, Australia. Kate is the mother of two little girls and hopes to cure them of their Disney Princess obsessions one day. She can also be found blogging, […]
Children’s Bible Missing a Certain Key Point
Hi fhdhfnznba Readers: While we’re on the subject of whitewashing the classics for kids’ delicate sensibilities, here’s the one that takes the cake: Dear Free-Range Kids: My kids have a children’s bible which says “and Jesus went away.” Kind of destroys one of the central tenets of Christianity. Yikes! For God so loved the world […]
The (Updated, Safer!) Cat in the Hat
Hi teardeznns Readers — A recent note from the frontlines of overprotection: Dear Free-Range Kids: I spent a few years as an assistant teacher working with kindergarteners and the amount of mollycoddling the school did was ridiculous. We couldn’t read “The Cat and the Hat” without interrupting the story to mention how no real mother […]
Katy Perry Too Hot (and Cold) For Sesame Street
Cave, cave, cave.  Apparently Sesame Street has decided not to air this Elmo/Katy Perry duet thanks to Katy’s own duo — the ones in her skin-tight outfit that had grown-ups worrying about kids seeing “Cleavage Street.” Or so the rumor goes, according to the folks at TMZ. kkzstfysnh (Yeah, yeah, I know. Look, I don’t use […]
School Uses Laptops to Spy on Kids: The Update. Really Weird Update.
Hi Folks! Just read this bizarre yyhfasbkdy new wrinkle on TechDirt about the case of the Pennsylvania school that gave its 1800 students laptops and then used them to spy on the kids — 42 times! While the school claims it activated the cameras only when trying to track down a lost or stolen computer, nonetheless […]
School Bans Dictionary
Hi Readers — As many of you have pointed out today, a grammar school in California has banned the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary because it contains a definition of “oral sex.” I guess the parents who complained would much rather their kid get his sex information from the geniuses on the monkey bars. Here’s the […]
The Free-Range Cat in the Hat
Hey — quick, cool point, brought up by reader Rich Wilson: In The ybhybzersh Cat in The Hat, which is hardly what you’d call subversive literature (oh, I’m sure some of you will, but let’s continue this point), the two tots are HOME ALONE! Mom has clearly gone out to shop, solo. And yet the book […]
Outrage of the Week: Humpty Dumpty SAFE???
Dear Readers: Cracked! That’s what the folks are over in Britain where one of the BBC’s kiddie programs (created for children with special needs but a big fave with all the under-fives, apparently), is teaching the kids that Humpty Dumpty did indeed sit on the wall. And he did have a great fall. BUT all […]