# How common is it to update older books? Can you think of examples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310 "2012-01-22T16:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/21 "2012-01-22T23:34:07Z")
The Little Golden Books _Nurse Nancy_ and\* Dr. Dan the Bandage Man\* were both originally written as product endorsements for Johnson & Johnson. The bandages they came with were real Band-Aids. When that endorsement ended, the pictures and text were edited to remove any specific references. Shel Silverstein had some of his poems changed to be more appropriate, too. “The Googies Are Coming” was originally “The Gypsies Are Coming”. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/22 "2012-01-23T00:17:48Z")
Judy Blume has updated the \*\*\*Fudge \*\*\*books from time to time, to update the tv shows and movies mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![kivrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@kivrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kivrin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/23 "2012-01-23T00:44:28Z")
When Ellen Emerson White added a fourth book to the [President’s Daughter](http://ellenemersonwhite.com/bibliography/daughter) series nearly twenty years after the previous installment, she also revised the earlier books to consider things like “teens have cell phones and use the internet.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/24 "2012-01-23T00:52:52Z")
_The Mismeasure of Man_ by Stephen Jay Gould was updated to correct errors and comment on them. The book is about the misuse of science to support racism and such by “proving” their inferiority, and part of it showed how the old racists miscalculated things like cranial capacity while providing the “true” calculations. Gould used the corrections as an example of how sneaky prejudice can be; he pointed out that all of his errors had been systemically in the _opposite_ direction from that of the racists. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/25 "2012-01-23T01:35:39Z")
The 1930 Newbery Medall winner _Hitty: Her First Hundred Years_ (about a doll named Hitty), by Rachel Field, was re-written in the late '90s by Rosemary Wells. I’ve never read the latter, but the [Publisher’s Weekly blurb on Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Fields-Hitty-First-Hundred/dp/0689817169http://www.amazon.com/Rachel-Fields-Hitty-First-Hundred/dp/0689817169) indicates that it’s not just a revision of the original: > [@](#): > > Wells adjusts the prose for '90s sensibilities (e.g., there are no longer any “heathens” or “savages,” and whaling is said to "seem cruel and heartless, [but] at the time it was necessary. She parts company with Field altogether in creating different adventures for Hitty: her Hitty goes South during the Civil War, crosses paths with a freed slave and, many episodes later, ends up not in a shop, awaiting new destinations (as in the original), but as the prize possession of that former slave’s granddaughter. My sister had owned a 1980s edition of the original book when she was a kid, and had mentioned a few years back that she’d love to re-read the book but that she’d never been able to find it in a bookstore. I decided this would make a good birthday gift and set about finding a copy on Amazon. This turned out to be more difficult than I’d expected because I did not initially know the original author’s name, the later Wells book is also titled _Hitty: Her First Hundred Years_ or worse still _Rachel Field’s Hitty: Her First Hundred Years_, and the Wells book is treated by Amazon as a different edition of the original Field book. I was eventually able to pin down what was what, but I wish Wells had come up with an original name for her novel. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/26 "2012-01-23T02:23:54Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It does make sense to update kids books. Its hard getting kids to read unless its something they can relate to. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew need to stay current and up to date so todays kids can enjoy them like I did 35 years ago. I got a kick out of reading the past-era versions of Nancy Drew. I did most of my Nancy Drew reading in the early 70’s, but most of my books were hand-me-downs from my older sisters and a cousin. We had a couple of books that dated back to the 20’s. I still remember the references to Nancy hopping into her speedy roadster with boyish George and plump Bess. I remember some cool frontispiece illustrations with Nancy looking sort of like a flapper. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/27 "2012-01-23T02:37:11Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > But do they still jump into jalopies!? Yes. The boys and their chums are always chasing after some swarthy crook or villain. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/28 "2012-01-23T03:12:46Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Yes. The boys and their chums are always chasing after some swarthy crook or villain. Villain? I believe you mean ex-con. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/29 "2012-01-23T03:24:51Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Villain? I believe you mean ex-con. Is Snidely Whiplash, with his pencil-thin mustache, no longer in fashion? ---
**Author:** ![rosella\_alm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/0ea827/32.png) [@rosella\_alm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rosella_alm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/30 "2012-01-23T05:23:10Z")
As a girl child I read Nancy Drew books in the 50’s that were written in the 20’s and 30’s. It is pretty clear that one character was/is a lesbian, and possibly the other was/is her BFF or something. I haven’t read the update, but I’ll bet the girls have changed a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/31 "2012-01-23T08:58:07Z")
Are you saying that Nancy Drew herself was supposed to be a lesbian, or that one of her best friends was supposed to be a lesbian? Or are you sayng that a minor character was supposed to be a lesbian? Was this character in several books or just in one book? Which book or books? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/32 "2012-01-23T13:38:42Z")
One of her best girlfriends was named Georgia Fayne, who was called George. George was a tomboy and very no-nonsense, which was to be interpreted as mannish, especially as compared to her cousin Bess, who was over-the-top feminine, as in fan-me-I-might-faint. George does wear dresses, but they aren’t fussy, and she likes boys, but she doesn’t flirt. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310/33 "2012-01-23T14:20:06Z")
They were portraying a tomboy, not a lesbian. In the earlier books, not even a hint of a lesbian subtext would have gotten into print and there was no intent on portraying it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-it-to-update-older-books-can-you-think-of-examples/610310.md?page=1)