What are people's thoughts on this?Updates
* In modern reprints, the names of the children have been changed:
o Jo is changed to Joe, because the character is a boy and this is the more commonly used spelling of the name for males;
o Bessie is changed to Beth, because the former name is seldom used as a nickname for Elizabeth;
o Fanny is changed to Frannie, because the former name is slang for vulva in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (see Wiktionary entry) and "bottom" in the USA. Cousin Dick, who appears in "The Magic Faraway Tree", has been changed to "Rick" as "Dick" is British slang for penis.
* In modern reprints, the character of Dame Slap has been re-named to Dame Snap and she no longer practises corporal punishment but instead reprimands her students by yelling at them very loudly.
Reading The Magic Faraway Tree books as a child I never got offended/upset by names or characters in the book and I think it's absolutely ridiculous that anyone would go as far as to change the name 'Bessie' to 'Beth' because of politically correct rubbish.
The books were written from the late 30's to the early 50's so of course it's going to have perfectly normal things from that era in it.
I'm glad I got to read the unmodified versions of it.