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Originally published in 2016, Trevor Noah's best-selling autobiography Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood has since been re-versioned as a children's book, one that has also become a part of the prescribed reading list of a number of high schools in New Jersey, USA.
But it wasn't his inclusion in high school curriculum that inspired the comedian to rework his book for young readers.
Talking with the New York Times, Trevor said it had been his conversations with parents that had been one of the "most prevalent" reasons.
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"People would say, I read the book to my 8-year-old, or my 10-year-old, but I wish they had a version they could read for themselves," explaining that apart from cleaning up the language, not much has changed.
"I didn’t want the parents who’d liked the book to not get the same book for their kids."
Trevor said that he thought the book might resonate with young readers since he had his younger brother in mind when he wrote the original version and that his own upbringing also had a lot to do with his choices in writing the child-friendly version.
"I was lucky to grow up in a household where my mother gave me respect and treated me like an adult. That’s important to do with younger readers — they may not have the experience, but they are still functioning human beings and they can grasp the concepts."
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Recalling a children's classic he was fond of growing up, the comedian had the perfect response when questioned about the idea that his book may be too gritty for kids:
"I think everybody understands a given story within their own context. I loved Dahl’s 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. I didn’t really like many of the kids in the factory, but I also knew how to process the complications of their particular world. I thought, 'this child was spoiled by his parents and that’s why he is the way he is. I’m still sorry he had to fall into the chocolate'. There are complicated ideas children can grasp if the storyteller relates to him in an authentic way."
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