The dangers of reading...
Last week I spoke at the Library Association of Ireland's conference entitled Teenage Kicks, and babbled on for a bit about teenagers, especially teenage girls, and their reading habits. It's got me thinking about the whole age-banding thing (oh, yes, that old thing), and musing, which basically comes down to:
1) labelling books for teenagers and having a 'young adult' section is a useful thing and incorporates a huge range of reading levels and genres, and they're old enough to be choosing their own reading material
2) age suggestions are in some ways a good thing, but problematic for younger readers where 'reading level' and 'interest level' might not always match up
3) if parents are worried about what their kids are reading, they should inform themselves, not depend on others to make decisions for them (which tends to lead to conservative parents pressurising those making the decisions to be over-cautious about what is 'appropriate' for a certain age group)
4) I would like not to have to worry that an eight-year-old reads one of my books which refers to sex or drinking or whatever and ends up scarred for life, not that I think that's terribly likely to happen. But I would also hate for a ten- or twelve-year-old to be told that they couldn't read one of my books because it was for 'older teens' (so sayeth the BookFest catalogue about Big Picture). Because I read books for adults when I was a kid. And I read books for kids as an adult. And I have been reading books for teenagers since before I was one and have kept at it after being one. And I don't remember ever being shocked or upset by anything in a book because it was 'age inappropriate'. I like to think that I haven't been scarred for life.
Which is to say really that I'm conflicted about it, still. Recommendations rather than edicts, I guess. I am not convinced that age-banding doesn't already happen to a very large extent (see bookshops dividing up children's section by age ranges, see some publishers with recommendations for reading age or with some kind of other system, see many of the American publishing houses, etc). Or that readers who are reading 'above age level' or 'below age level' don't already know it, because their work in school is very much tied in with what is expected of their age group. Or that all booksellers and teachers are equipped to be as knowledgeable about all children's titles as the very best of them are.
Looking at it from the upper end of the spectrum, the teenage/YA end, it could lead to less caution on the part of booksellers and teachers and publishers if it is clear that books for teenagers are going to be clearly marketed at teenagers and can therefore include lots of happily controversial things like drugs and sex and swearing. Though I guess that can be solved with little notes on the cover, as some publishers have taken to using.
I don't know. I do know that as an author-type I am supposed to be completely outraged about it all, and it does drive me demented when well-meaning adults try to tell kids what they 'should' be reading, but on the other hand... it's a market constructed by age as it is. And I am less outraged than everyone else in the world (slightly hyberbolic, I realise) seems to be.
1) labelling books for teenagers and having a 'young adult' section is a useful thing and incorporates a huge range of reading levels and genres, and they're old enough to be choosing their own reading material
2) age suggestions are in some ways a good thing, but problematic for younger readers where 'reading level' and 'interest level' might not always match up
3) if parents are worried about what their kids are reading, they should inform themselves, not depend on others to make decisions for them (which tends to lead to conservative parents pressurising those making the decisions to be over-cautious about what is 'appropriate' for a certain age group)
4) I would like not to have to worry that an eight-year-old reads one of my books which refers to sex or drinking or whatever and ends up scarred for life, not that I think that's terribly likely to happen. But I would also hate for a ten- or twelve-year-old to be told that they couldn't read one of my books because it was for 'older teens' (so sayeth the BookFest catalogue about Big Picture). Because I read books for adults when I was a kid. And I read books for kids as an adult. And I have been reading books for teenagers since before I was one and have kept at it after being one. And I don't remember ever being shocked or upset by anything in a book because it was 'age inappropriate'. I like to think that I haven't been scarred for life.
Which is to say really that I'm conflicted about it, still. Recommendations rather than edicts, I guess. I am not convinced that age-banding doesn't already happen to a very large extent (see bookshops dividing up children's section by age ranges, see some publishers with recommendations for reading age or with some kind of other system, see many of the American publishing houses, etc). Or that readers who are reading 'above age level' or 'below age level' don't already know it, because their work in school is very much tied in with what is expected of their age group. Or that all booksellers and teachers are equipped to be as knowledgeable about all children's titles as the very best of them are.
Looking at it from the upper end of the spectrum, the teenage/YA end, it could lead to less caution on the part of booksellers and teachers and publishers if it is clear that books for teenagers are going to be clearly marketed at teenagers and can therefore include lots of happily controversial things like drugs and sex and swearing. Though I guess that can be solved with little notes on the cover, as some publishers have taken to using.
I don't know. I do know that as an author-type I am supposed to be completely outraged about it all, and it does drive me demented when well-meaning adults try to tell kids what they 'should' be reading, but on the other hand... it's a market constructed by age as it is. And I am less outraged than everyone else in the world (slightly hyberbolic, I realise) seems to be.