Topic of the Week: Reading Levels vs Maturity Levels

[jgurtler]

As writers and readers of Young Adult, we probably all have strong ideas about book banning and sensorship in schools and libraries. The loaded topic I'd like to discuss this week is the difference between reading levels and maturity levels and how that can be addressed

Comments

[denelian]

i have to agree with the first two posters, but for slightly different reasons

[jgurtler]

You make excellent points that make much sense!
Btw- Nothing is ever too long for the Debs and we don't take offense to much. :)

[denelian]

that makes me feel better :)
i recently posted a bit of analysis of LKH's books, and was promptly dropped into the LJ equivelent of a flame war. people were taking offense at EVERYTHING, especially analogies that i made.
it was very upsetting for me. and weird. on the one hand, i HATE make people upset or hurting them, and so i was upset that way. on the other hand, in a lot of cases it really looked like they were TRYING to find something to be offended about. they twisted my words and meanings around to fit into something offensive, and so that upset me...
si i'm kinda gun-shy, at the moment. thank you for reassuring me - i kinda needed it :)

whats up with me and the really long posts today? i will try at least to stop with the extra-extra-long :)

thank you again!

[jgurtler]

Sorry you had to go through that. It's no fun. And hey, we're writers, we love words and long posts. ;)

[anonymous]

Like many others commenting, I think it's up to the parents. Each kid and teen has their own maturity level, and sensitivities, and each parent will have their own ideas of what's appropriate for their kids.

I do think there are certain books that, when I have kids, I'd want them to wait before reading until I thought they could handle them and we could have a thoughtful conversation about that. But we're talking extremes--like, I'm not sure I'd encourage a seven-year-old to read Steven King's Apt Pupil. :P

My parents were always very easy-going about what I read. I don't remember them ever telling me I couldn't read anything. The only thing they ever censored for me was movies--for a while they decided I was too young to see the second Indiana Jones movie, and also Robocop (they felt those were too violent/scary).

[megancrewe]

Er, that comment above was me. I thought I was logged in.

[denelian]

yeah - i am MUCH more worried about my niece seeing violence than i am with her seeing something that can be seen as "sexy". the poster above who pointed out that a breast causes an R rating while a killing spree only PG-13 has what i think is the perfect point - what does it say about us, as a society, that we try to censor EVERYTHING to do with sex and the body, but ignore (at best) someone mowing down random people in NYC?

[jgurtler]

True that

[mzink]

As someone who read my mom's copy of Looking for Mr. Goodbar when I was nine, I'll just agree with what seems to be a sentiment of the majority; no, no, and no to any form of age-banding or rating system.

It's too subjective a judgment call to leave to a bunch of strangers sitting in a conference room somewhere. And while some may say that it would only be a "guideline", many parents will find it impossible to not be swayed by such a sweeping categorization.

Call me crazy, but I get a little nervous when someone starts talking about making decisions for MY children. Thanks, but no thanks.

[jgurtler]

Sounds like your kids are in good hands.

[laurenbjorkman]

I never censor what my kids read, but I do try to steer them (a bit). I would like to read everything they read, but now they're voracious bibliovores, and that's not practical =D

When my sons (9 and 11) are interested in something advanced (theme-wise), I make that our read aloud book. It's worked so far.

When they hit teen-hood, I don't believe I'll limit them. I like the "come to me with questions" concept.

On the other hand, my older sister gave me a book about on-the-fringe sex when I was 14. I wish I hadn't read it. Even to this day. Of course, my parents had no idea...and I certainly didn't go to them with questions!!!

[jgurtler]

Ummm... what is on-the-fringe sex? LOL I should probably have read that book.

[laurenbjorkman]

I didn't want to say because our opens posts are supposed to be PG =)

[janastocks]

I got into reading very young and it didn't take much for me to migrate to the larger world of adult books. My mother went to the library with me and read a lot of what I read first, not to censor me reading it, but because she wanted to be informed so we could have reasonable discussion when I was finished with the book. This way she could help me think about what I was reading and how it fit into my young mentality. I think responsible parents is the most important part of introducing children to any kind of media. Ratings are there to give parents some kind of idea of what's involved in the media, but should not be taken as a black and white cut off of what a child is ready for. Some people will NEVER be ready or want to be ready for certain subjects in their media. Other people, youth included, won't even notice. It's important to know our kids and to keep very open channels of communication.

~Jana

[jgurtler]

You make excellent points. Communication is so important with kids!