A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down from a government agency’s annual awards because the subject matter could offend Muslims.
The digital book, re-telling the classic fairy tale, was rejected by judges who warned that “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”.
The awards which rejected the book are run by Becta, the government’s educational technology agency.
The judging panel also attacked the book’s stereotyping of builders.
The book’s creative director, Anne Curtis, said that the idea that including pigs in a story could be interpreted as racism was “like a slap in the face”.
The CD-Rom digital version of the traditional story of the three little pigs, called Three Little Cowboy Builders, is aimed at primary school children.But judges at this year’s Bett Award said that they had “concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues”.
The Three Little Cowboy Builders has already been a prize winner at the recent Education Resource Award – but its Newcastle-based publishers, Shoo-fly were turned down by the Bett Award panel, run the government’s technology agency.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7204635.stm