Age Guidance on Children's Books - What do you think?

[HelenWaller]

Hi everyone
I was wondering if you could help me. I'm currently doing an MA dissertation on whether children's books should have age guidance on them and was hoping to get some mums who buy books for children to give me their opinions. It would be great if you could post any comments you have. For instance:
Do you think there should be age guidance on the back of all children's books?
Should age guidance be about the child's reading age or content suitability or both?
Would you buy more children's books if they had age guidance on the cover?
How easy or difficult do you find establishing what age a book is suitable for?
Are their any alternatives to age guidance?

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Helen

I would probably ignore age banding. I read all sorts of things as a child and encourage my dds to do the same.

Also, many of the old classics have aspects I'd consider highly unsuitable for small children - the subtle and not-so-subtle sexism, racism, classism in Narnia, Enid Blyton, Noel Streatfield, and E Nesbit can be quite shocking when you actually consider it, yet I enjoyed all those authors hugely as a child and now my dds enjoy them too. But I consider them unsuitable in some ways.

I think age banding is hugely helpful for the vast majority of book buyers/lenders.

I worked in book shops for years and the number one question from customers re. children's books was 'what age is this for'.

People want the help. It can be broad and encompassing and non-rigid but it is still needed.

The posters who say they can figure it themselves are lucky. Most people can't.

I work in a secondary school and run two reading clubs, as well as doing literacy intervention with those who are struggling.

I think putting age-guidance on the back of books is potentially immensely damaging in terms of encouraging children to read appropriate books for them, not for what chronological age they happen to be.

I buy loads of books for my boys, but unless you know an older child extremely well IMO you have no business buying them a book: that's what book tokens are for!

I also signed up to no-to-age-banding along with many other parents, teachers, librarians and authors!

I don't object to age banding as a general guideline, I just wouldn't stick to it myself.