PORN LINK FORCES SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES TO PULL CERTAIN KIDS BOOKS FROM SHELVES

PEOPLE

 

Porn Link Forces Libraries, Schools to Pull These Kids Books From Shelves

Penguin Random House and its children’s imprint Puffin said it will be taking legal action

By Charna Flam  Published on October 9, 2025 06:07PM EDT

 

Penguin Random House children’s imprint Puffin has contacted U.K. authorities and schools that links to several popular children’s book series were hijacked by a pornography site.

 

Andrew Cope’s Spy Dogs, Spy Pups and Spy Cats book series included links to learn more about characters, but the links directed young readers to porn sites that require no age verification. The books are for readers between the ages of 1 and 7.

 

The link was previously owned and managed by Cope. An “unconnected third party has very recently taken control of the domain name and is using it to display a different website with inappropriate adult content,” Puffin and Cope said in a joint statement, per The Guardian.

 

"This website is not associated with Puffin or Andrew Cope. We are asking people not to visit the website and ensure that children do not visit it either,” the statement read.

 

Puffin “immediately paused” sales of the affected books and worked with libraries to remove the books from their shelves. "This is an in-depth and complex legal process and will take time. In addition, we have immediately paused on the sale and distribution of the books whilst we deal with this matter.”

 

Additionally, several schools in England reported receiving emails that notified them of the incident. The email warned the schools that the new content featured “inappropriate material featuring children’s characters,” per The Guardian.

 

Nominet, which is the company that runs the U.K. registry, issued a statement confirming the website has been suspended “for breaching our terms and conditions,” per BBC.

 

“The website did not conduct suitable age verification as required under the Online Safety Act — and we have advised the domain owner and its registrar,” the statement read. "It is recommended that those using web addresses in prominent locations continue ownership of the domain to avoid issues like this.”

 

The first Spy Dog book, published in 2005, chronicles the adventures of Lara, a dog trained by the secret service to work undercover with an unaware family. Then from 2009 through 2015, another 11 Spy Dog books were published, and later spin-off series Spy Pups and Spy Cat.