J.K. Rowling joins Philip Pullman's campaign against book age guidelines

[Honey]

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has joined rival fantasy writer Philip Pullman's campaign to block publishers' plans to introduce age guidance limits on books.
Pullman, who penned the His Dark Materials trilogy from which the 2007 film The Golden Compass was adapted, is at the forefront of a group of authors and illustrators who are all unhappy about the scheme.
The new guidelines would see children's books stamped with age limits, in a similar way guidance ratings are given to movies.
And now Rowling is the latest recruit to slam the proposed move, alongside children's literature giants Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Dame Jacqueline Wilson.
Pullman explains his decision to boycott the move: "You simply can't decide who your readership will be. Nor do I want to, because declaring that it's for any group in particular means excluding every other group."

Rowling Joins Pullman's Campaign Against Book Age Guidelines

[twitchy]

Age limits for books? How FUCKING RETARDED. Where's the line to knee the nads of the douche who thought of this?

Also, Philip Pullman is awesome.

[western]

Are they age limits or age recommendations? If you look at toys they have a suggested age on them (ie. "safe" for ages 1-3). From a parental standpoint it would be helpful when choosing a children's book to know if it would fit your child's age level. But from a reader's standpoint age & reading comprehension don't always match.

It seems more like yet another attempt to protect our endangered children from experiencing life before their fragile minds are ready for it. And yet another way for lazy parents to let someone else decide what's appropriate for their children without checking it first themselves.

Just because a book should appeal to a certain age group it doesn't mean it should be pigeon-holed for just that age group. Like the Harry Potter series - it appeals to multiple age groups yet the first couple were marketed only to kids. Whose to say new releases would fit into the age group they're specified for?

Books already have an uphill battle with current marketing just with category assignment - this is a romance, this is a western, this is science fiction, etc. Adding an age guideline would narrow the market even further.

[twitchy]

According to Simon Juden, chief executive of the Publisher's Association, "However, age guidance isn't actually about reading age - it is about content and the appropriate interest level for children."

I should have thought that any adult buying a book for a child would already know something about that child, their interests, their age, etc. "Interest level" is a nonsense term. Interest doesn't come in levels. The bit about guidance being about content is the part that is most disturbing to me. What is appropriate content for what age? Will some puritan decide that drug use or depictions of homosexuality relegate Alice in Wonderland and And Tango Makes Three to kids over sixteen?

"Nor do we want to put a child off reading for life by a book that they can't cope with."

Books are already on the shelves in rough groupings according to age. Harry Potter won't be found on the same shelves as Goodnight Moon, for example. I think that the reading level would be wildly off before a child would be unable to "cope".

Heaven forbid that someone should actually take the couple minutes bother and find out what a kid might like. Read the blurb on the back covers. Check out reviews. Ask kids what they're into.

[ana-mish-ana]

That is pathetic- childrens stories are universal- so will they rate fairy tales then because some of them are pretty violent like cannibalistic witches.

Also the growth of YA books in recent years which many adults are reading these books as well as children. This is censorship through the back door.

[sputnik]

retarded.
kids are different. some kids can handle tough books at age 6 while others are still on the very basic picture books. their maturity levels are different too.