Porcine predicament ... The Three Little Cowboy Builders
Blow as hard as they might, the folk at Becta - the government's information technology arm - can't seem to level the furious row building over its decision last week to withhold a curriculum award from children's book The Three Little Cowboy Builders.
Becta said the digital pop-up book - a reworking of The Three Little Pigs fairytale - might be offensive to Muslims and builders after judges rejected a warning that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".
But it has transpired that Becta's own school-based reviewer labelled the resource "unique" and a "delight" with "superb animations".
And Curriculum Online - the government-funded site that advises teachers on suitable products for the classroom - said it would "inspire children to become authors and create their own pop-up books".
Merlin John, the education technology expert whose website highlighted the story, says there has been long-term disquiet about the fairness of processes behind Becta's annual BETT awards.
Anne Curtis of Shoo Fly, the book's publisher, said builders had been far from offended: "In fact they think it is a hoot and the education 'moral' is clearly in the last verse of our work:
'So the moral of this tale is very clear to me
If a builder you want to be,
Go to school, make the grade,
Take advice and learn a trade.
Or you'll end up as Wolfie's tea!'"
Which seems a sensible thing for children to hear.
I was treated to a Ladybird hardback copy of The Three Little Pigs to help me pass the time recovering from an ear operation when I was little. I've still got it. I loved both reading the story and having it read to me.
Is it offensive? This seems a bit far-fetched. Perhaps fairytales are a bit out of date, but neutering them to suit the politically-correct brigade would be ludicrous.
Surely anything that makes children enthusiastic about reading and inspires them to write their own stories is a good thing?
