I asked Google why that was the case but received no response, though others have been luckier and were provided with this statement (quote Google spokesperson to New York Sun):

Google has decided to remove its Doodle of Roald Dahl based on user concerns

There’s no explanation of what the user concerns actually were, but the New York Sun speculates that it might have been due to allegations that Roald Dahl was anti-semitic, and that the timing of the logo also coincided with Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah which started at sundown the day before.

This isn’t the first time a Google celebration logo has been pulled. Previously, a Miro logo was removed after the artist’s family accused Google of copyright infringements.

*At least that was the case on Google.com – the logo still appeared on Google.co.uk, though I’m unsure if it appeared for the full day or was also pulled at some time earlier.

[Thanks Veky!]

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Today would have been Dahl’s 91st birthday, which explains the timing, and on the Roald Dahl Day Blog, a post states, “After all the months and days and hours of party planning and preparation, Dahl Day is here.  There will be quizzes and games galore and it’s the perfect excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and supper, it is Roald Dahl Day, after all.  Let’s get the party started . . .”

Given that it’s nearly my lunchtime, I’ll be quite happy to oblige.  But Dahl deserves a bit more attention before I break out the Hershey’s.  Judging from the results of a recent survey, he probably deserves even more attention than J.K. Rowling, Dr. Seuss, or just about any other children’s author you can think of.

The survey involved 16-to-34-year-olds, and as reported by the Guardian Unlimited, “Roald Dahl remains the most popular children’s author among young adults.”

That’s nice.  I’ll now tip my hat to Philipp Lenssen and settle down with some chocolate and a good book.