Just in case you thought you only had to worry about lead in the toys from China, small pieces that are choking hazards, and the computer games that turn your kids into couch potatoes, you'd better think again:

A leading children's author was told to drop a fire-breathing dragon shown in a new book - because the publishers feared they could be sued under health and safety regulations.

It is just one of the politically correct cuts Lindsey Gardiner says she has been told to make in case youngsters act out the stories.

As well as the scene showing her dragon toasting marshmallows with his breath, illustrations of an electric cooker with one element glowing red and of a boy on a ladder have had to go.

They're kidding, right? A boy on a ladder? I'm shaking just thinking about it.

Good thing kids can see past such nonsense:

"Then I had to change the element on a cooker from glowing red to green.

"It is crazy. When I go to book signings, I sometimes take with me some colouring pictures, and the kids draw the elements as red because the cooker is on and it's hot. They are not stupid."

Fortunately, though, help may be on the way. The industry is going to "talk about it":

"I've had books published in Japan, France, Spain and Holland and they don't ask for the same changes.

"It seems to be in Britain and the U.S. that there are problems."

Nobody from Orchard Books was available for comment but a spokesman for the Publishers Association said: "We are aware of some concerns by authors and it is something we can talk about in the industry."

Did you ever wonder how any of us ever grew up and lived past 12? And just think of all the children's literature that's going to have to be banned before our kids are really, truly safe! Ah well, there's always the ever-so-exciting Good Night, Moon.

Fire-Breathing Dragons Publishers

hat tip: trish

Labels: Books, Theater of the Absurd