海角大神

Are you finding that contemporary books are a little too full of language that offends you?聽

According to a press release, the app Clean Reader can take profanity out of any book. There are three modes: Clean, Cleaner, and Squeaky Clean.

鈥淭o preserve the context of the book, an alternative word with the same general meaning is available for each instance where a word is blocked from display,鈥� the press release reads.聽

The app is free for iOS and Android, according to the Clean Reader website.聽

In the press release, Upstream Media president Jared Maughan said he was inspired to create the app after an experience with his daughter.聽

鈥淭he idea for Clean Reader started at our dinner table after our daughter's first exposure to books with swear words,鈥� he said.聽

As reported by Monitor writer Husna Haq, a Brigham Young University professor looked at 40 young adult bestsellers in 2012 and found that the average novel aimed at young adults has 38 examples of profanity.

So is the app a good idea? In reviews on iTunes and Google Play, some wrote that they are grateful for the filtering offered by Clean Reader.聽

鈥淟ove this app!!鈥� one user wrote. 鈥淭hanks so much! Love to read but don't like the profanity some use.鈥澛�

鈥淭his app has brought me back to reading and loving books again,鈥� another wrote. 鈥淏est app ever!!鈥澛�

The app may not be to everyone鈥檚 taste, however. As pointed out by Ron Charles of the Washington Post, there was an uproar after a revised edition of 鈥淗uckleberry Finn鈥� by Mark Twain was published in 2011. The edition removed instances of the n-word from the text, but Salon writer Elon James White wrote at the time, 鈥淭he book, which deals directly with racism, is not better served by erasing the racial slur,鈥� while The Washington Post鈥檚 Alexandra Petri wrote, 鈥淭he word is terrible. But it鈥檚 a linchpin of this book.鈥�