Tanzania Bans popular Children’s Books by US author Jeff Kinney

The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of children’s books ,The Diary of a Wimpy kid, claiming they violate local cultural norms. It was not immediately clear what content in the series of the illustrated books by US author Jeff Kinney had offended the authorities.

Tanzania Education Minister Adolf Mkenda announced the immediate ban on “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books, and said the government was monitoring libraries in both public and private schools to make sure they were not on their shelves.

The minister also listed other banned books, including “Sex Education: A Guide to Life”. He said they are banning these books from schools and other education institutions because they contradict Tanzanian cultural norms and morals.

He also noted that the books violate the good practices of bringing up children and urged parents to inspect their children’s bags to make sure they did not have the books.

The first book in the “Wimpy Kid” series was published in 2007 and since then 275 million copies have been sold worldwide in 69 languages, according to the wimpykid.com website. There have also been several film adaptations.

The series is about a school boy Greg Heffley, his family and his best friend Rowley Jefferson. Greg records his daily adventures in his hilarious diary, packed with text and cartoons that are hugely appealing to young readers aged 8 to 12.