Penguin defends 'creepy' Roald Dahl book cover

Penguin has defended its decision to use an image of a doll-like young girl on the cover of a new edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, BBC News reports.

Members of the public reacted angrily when the new edition - part of the Penguin Modern Classics range - was revealed on Wednesday.

The cover was deemed "misleading" and "creepy". Author Giles Paley-Phillips said it looked "more like Lolita".

But Penguin said it stressed "the light and the dark aspects" of Dahl's work.

"This design is in recognition of the book's extraordinary cultural impact and is one of the few children's books to be featured in the Penguin Modern Classics list.

"This new image for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory looks at the children at the centre of the story, and highlights the way Roald Dahl's writing manages to embrace both the light and the dark aspects of life," said a statement from Penguin

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of a handful of children's books to be made part of the Penguin Modern Classics series, which features around 800 titles considered, by the publisher, to be "the most exciting, groundbreaking and inspiring works of the last 100 years".

Other children's titles in the range include Tarka the Otter and Alice in Wonderland.

The new edition, which comes out on 4 September, coincides with the 50th anniversary celebrations of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, first published in 1964.