Berlin - A German children's book can be published in the United States after a publisher there dropped its demand for the genitals on a picture of a statue in it be air-brushed out, it was revealed Thursday. The German illustrator of the book had angrily complained of censorship and withdrew it from the US market last summer after being told that shoppers might object to the nudity.
Rotraut Susanne Berner, 58, of Munich draws group scenes crowded with people, animals and objects. Her books encourage pre-schoolers to discuss with parents what they see in the pictures.
The offending male organ is a tiny squiggle in the picture: the male statue itself is only 7.5 millimetres high on the page.
Her German publisher Gerstenberg Verlag said the US client, Boyds Mills Press of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, had relented about the changes after the outcry it caused in Germany.
