Roald Dahl children's books will be re-written to remove outdated language

British publisher, Puffin Books, announced it will alter passages referring to weight, mental health, gender, and race.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's Augustus Gloop will no longer be "enormously fat", now he'll just be "enormous".

The Witches villains will no longer pose as a "cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman".

Now the witch will be posing as a "top scientist or running a business".

Terrible tractors in Fantastic Mr Fox will no longer be described as "black" but will be "murderous, brutal-looking monsters".

And Matilda will no longer be a fan of imperialist author Rudyard Kipling, instead she will now enjoy reading fellow British author Jane Austen.

The changes came after Puffin Books hired a sensitivity reader to remove the language now deemed inappropriate.

French publishers of the books, Gallimard, said the original texts will "remain intact".

The changes have raised the ire of critics.

"I think that one of the interesting and puzzling things about these type of changes, is that they do leave behind the values and the ideas that might be still considered problematic," said Michelle Smith, senior lecturer in literary studies at Monash University.

Ms Smith shared her thoughts on the books' changes with the ABC.

"So there's still a giant song about Augustus Gloop being revolting and horrible, but just the wording of fat is changed.

"I think that's one of the interesting things about these attempts to revise children's books and modernise them, that if we think we're removing the outdated ideas and stereotypes, often they're still there underneath those minor changes.

"I mean, some older children's books like Peter Pan are very rarely read by children anymore. They come out in editions with notes and annotations that are, you know, more there for adults as a historical document.

"So I guess it's a question of whether we treat them as these historical kind of documents that don't change that maybe adults to engage with.

"But it's kind of quite difficult to discuss these issues with children if we airbrush out the most easy way to recognise the problems of the book.

"We can't really change the values present in a book written in the 1960s, for example. But we can encourage young people to question those things."

It's not the first time children's authors have had their works changed after the fact.

Enid Blyton's famed Magic Faraway Tree series was re-written to correct the "sexist expectations".

And in 1973, Dahl himself even partially re-wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The original 1964 story, the Oompa Loompas were black pygmies who Wonka imported to work in his factory.