The Aldi supermarket chain in Australia removed the Roald Dahl classic Revolting Rhymes, first published in 1982, from its shelves "after complaints from customers about the use of the word 'slut' " in his comical take on Cinderella, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A spokeswoman for Aldi confirmed the chain had removed copies from its stores following "comments by a limited number of concerned customers regarding the language used in this particular book." Within hours of the decision becoming public, Aldi's Facebook page "was inundated with critical comments," the Morning Herald wrote.
The Guardian noted that the ban "has prompted reaction among book lovers on social media, with fans of the Children's Book Council of Australia Facebook page saying they planned to write to the German chain to demand the books be restocked."
Mark Rubbo, managing director of Readings bookstores, Melbourne, "said he didn't know of any other retailers who had banned Dahl's books, but said he had noticed an increase in the number of people requesting titles be removed from his stores," the Guardian noted.
"Usually I respond by saying, we're not censors, and there are a lot of books that we sell that I or my staff find offensive," Rubbo observed. "But it's not our role to take them off the shelves. It's up to the reader to make those decisions.”
