Ban this book! (From Penarth Times)

Ban this book!

A PENARTH grandmother is calling for a well known Cardiff author's book to be banned because it has frightening parallels to Jamie Bulger's murder.

Carol Naylor of Clive Place, Penarth says she was shocked when she read The Swan by Roald Dahl.

She is writing to publishers to demand they withdraw it from shops.

The first published copy of the story was in 1977 by Puffin as part of the compilation The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More.

In The Swan it details the way a young boy is led down an embankment by two bigger boys and forced to lie across the railway tracks.

It mirrors the actions of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson when they abducted and horifically murdered two-year-old Jamie in Merseyside ten years ago.

What these two boys did was so horrendous that Jamie's mother was forbidden to identify his body.

They then left his beaten small body on the tracks so a train could run him over to hide the mess they had created.

These two boys, even being boys, understood what they did was wrong, hence trying to make it look like an accident.

Carol said: "I don't think this book should be on sale and I want something to be done about it.

"The book is full of violence and totally unsuitable for children.

It should be banned out of respect for Jamie Bulger and his family.

She added: "I would warn other parents not to buy it for their children."

It was bought by Carol for her granddaughter, who loves reading Dahl's books.

On the back cover of the book it says: "Seven superb stories full of Roald Dahl's usual magic, mystery and suspense."

But when Carol flicked through the book she realised it was unsuitable.

She said: "I'm just glad I didn't give it to my granddaughter.

"I one part of the book the children hack a swan to death to use the wings so a boy can fly.

"I would have been appalled if she'd read that.

"With all the violence in the world today we don't need a story like this on the shop shelves."