OUP responds to Biff, Chip and Kipper book 'cottaging' controversy

By Alison Flood

Publisher says its books ‘are created with utmost thought and consideration’, after Twitter user highlights apparently dubious scene

Oxford University Press has moved to reassure parents that its books “are created with the utmost thought and consideration” following a social media storm over an apparent cottaging scene in a Biff, Chip and Kipper title.

Earlier this week, Twitter user Ed Brody highlighted the “somewhat dubious scenes spotted in the background of a friend’s 4yo’s school book”. The first image tweeted by Brody, from one of the Oxford Reading Tree’s Biff, Chip and Kipper titles, shows a group of men at the back of the picture discussing something by a bush. The second shows an old woman looking behind the bush and reacting in shock to what she sees.

Somewhat dubious scenes spotted in the background of a friend's 4yo's school book pic.twitter.com/opF9ogsQwO