In a Bookseller article, authors are pretty steamed that age guidance markers are being printed on their book covers.  Now, judging by the language of the article, I want to assume this is something happening in Britain as opposed to the US, if not for the language than for the fact that I’ve yet to see age ratings on books here (or I just haven’t looked close enough).  Despite where this is happening, what do you think of it?

The authors have some very valid points.  Considering age rating on everything else is based on content (video games, movies) as opposed to comprehension, it’s only natural that a parent buying their kid a book is going to see a 13+ book as a book that’s “too mature” for their 11-year-old as opposed to something that might be a little beyond their reading comprehension.

With the parents not wanting to buy up (despite the fact that kids often do), kids themselves might not want to buy down.  I would see this as purely a superficial move.  You’re 11 and all your friends are reading books with 12+ or 13+ on the back cover.  Would you want to be caught with a 10+ in your hands?  I don’t think so.

So the authors’ argument is that parents will be buying books for their kids with only their exact age on it because they don’t want to risk exposing them to something they’re too “immature” to deal with or boring them because they’re too far “advanced.”  I can definitely see that happening with this kind of branding.  Not to mention that while the comprehensive level of books might be the same age, the content they’re getting could vary widely.  So you have a book that’s suitable for 13+.  That could include a heart-warming friendship tale and a psychotic vampire bloodbath.  This kind of branding could very well lead to that kind of gross mistake: the parents thinking the age rating is for content, not comprehension.  Oops.

Personally, I wouldn’t want an age stamp on my books.  Like the fears of one author in that article, it narrows the scope way too much.  I want my book available to as many people as humanly possible and stamping it with 15+ will shunt out far too many that are more than capable and willing to read them.  What would be the sense in that?  Let the parents do what they’re there to do–parent.  God forbid, I know.  Perhaps, instead of grabbing books off the shelves for their kids they might actually read what the kids read so they know what’s being reading.  I mean really know and don’t blindly trust an age rating that’s supposed to tell them these things.

The thing is, though, most kids know exactly what they want to read and they’re going to read it regardless, be it publicly or privately.  We shouldn’t shut out a buying statistic but at the same time if kids don’t need a how-to on what to buy themselves, why do parents?  What do you think?