US Publisher Turns away from Cartoon Nudity

This woman is a hero. Children's book author Rotraut Susanne Berner refused to allow her illustrations to be censored by American publisher Boyds Mills Press. As reported on Spiegel Online, the publisher asked the author to make some changes to the book to make it more amenable to the U.S. market. In short, our children cannot be subjected to the artistic nude as seen in a museum. Their sensibilities are simply too fragile. As Spiegel summed it up, "The problem? Cartoon breasts and a half-millimeter-long willy."

Another feather in our cap, America.

Here are the offending illustrations in case you're interested:







And here they are in their original context, not cropped to show the "naughty bits":



Dear Ms. Berner,

Call Chronicle Books. I doubt we will be so fearful