Support: No to Age Banding! - Writers Forum

valeca · 07-11-2008, 09:41 AM

Would you want someone deciding what is and isn't appropriate for you (or your children) to read based on age?

No to Age Banding

(notoagebanding.org)

More information:
Philip Pullman leads author revolt against age banding for children's books

Some well known authors who support the no banding campaign: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling.

Support No to Age Banding!

From Notobanding.org

Quote:

Each child is unique, and so is each book. Accurate judgments about age suitability are impossible, and approximate ones are worse than useless.
Children easily feel stigmatized, and many will put aside books they might love because of the fear of being called babyish. Other children will feel dismayed that books of their ‘correct’ age-group are too challenging, and will be put off reading even more firmly than before.
Age-banding seeks to help adults choose books for children, and we're all in favour of that; but it does so by giving them the wrong information. It’s also likely to encourage over-prescriptive or anxious adults to limit a child's reading in ways that are unnecessary and even damaging.
Everything about a book is already rich with clues about the sort of reader it hopes to find – jacket design, typography, cover copy, prose style, illustrations. These are genuine connections with potential readers, because they appeal to individual preference. An age-guidance figure is a false one, because it implies that all children of that age are the same.
Children are now taught to look closely at book covers for all the information they convey. The hope that they will not notice the age-guidance figure, or think it unimportant, is unfounded.
Writers take great care not to limit their readership unnecessarily. To tell a story as well and inclusively as possible, and then find someone at the door turning readers away, is contrary to everything we value about books, and reading, and literature itself.

JosephB · 07-11-2008, 09:46 AM

What nonsense. I'm capable of vetting my child's reading materials. More self-righteous, do-gooder, Tipper Gore crap.

Mike C · 07-11-2008, 10:01 AM

I'm all in favour of it. There's nothing so likely to make a kid want to read above his assumed ability level than telling him he's not allowed.

When we were teenagers we read Lady Chatterley's lover because we knew it had dirty bits, and it was made all the more delicious knowing that the book had once been banned.

valeca · 07-11-2008, 10:08 AM

Is there underlying sarcasm there and I'm missing it, Mike? You think it will encourage rather than hinder?

2.0 · 07-11-2008, 10:21 AM

I can see his point. Growing up, I definitely would have chosen the books that were well above my supposed reading level to make myself feel like a literary badass.
However, I think the negatives on this one outweigh the positives. The children who are going to try to read above their level will most likely do so anyway. The same is not the case for the children reading below their supposed levels.

Garden of Kadesh · 07-11-2008, 10:23 AM

Seems silly, but nobody has to follow the age recommendations if they don't want to, right?

...right?

Tiamat10 · 07-11-2008, 10:26 AM

Age banding? Pure poppycock.

Mike C · 07-11-2008, 10:28 AM

Totally. I'm against the idea, of course, but whichever half-witted village idiot came up with the scheme never took into account the forbidden fruit factor. Remember being a kid? If you picked up a book belonging to an older sibling with an exciting cover, but the label said you were too young to read it, would you:

a) Put the book back, knowing that grown-ups know best, or

b) Grab the book and read avidly?

Kids aren't stupid, but whoever came up with this idea is.

2.0 · 07-11-2008, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garden of Kadesh

Seems silly, but nobody has to follow the age recommendations if they don't want to, right?

...right?

If you were 12 and the books you wanted to (or had the ability to) read were for 7 year olds, would you really go ahead and pick up the book?

Mike C · 07-11-2008, 10:38 AM

Yes, if the cover was appealing. I've read a couple of YA novels recently, because they looked interesting and because I knew one of the authors. Kids don't like regulation, they like good stories. They find their own level.

HarryG · 07-11-2008, 10:38 AM

Isn't this similar to parental control of internet content? At what age do you allow your children unfettered access to the net? A parental nightmare if ever there was one, and merely searching for such controls on the net is going to lead down some very dark alleys.

2.0 · 07-11-2008, 10:46 AM

Then you were a bit more well-adjusted than I was, Mike. I would have been too embarassed to read a "baby" book. But if it didn't have an age level on it, I would have been comfortable.

Harry, I don't really see this as being very similar. The idea that parents have the control is what makes it different. Parents know their children better than someone who is going to be putting an age label on a book.

seigfried007 · 07-11-2008, 10:51 AM

Quote:

If you were 12 and the books you wanted to (or had the ability to) read were for 7 year olds, would you really go ahead and pick up the book?

And think of the harassment that 12-yr-old would face with a 7 branded on the cover. He might be harassed anyway, but that brand on the cover just acts like a neon FREE BEER sign... or a chum line. Without that sign, it might be easier for the kid to get by blaming it on nostalgia (like if someone catches me reading anything by Bill Pete).

Straylight · 07-11-2008, 12:44 PM

This is an absolute load of bollocks.

The only way they can make it "fair" (which in our society is just a code-word for "don't make the retards feel bad about themselves") is to cater to the very Lowest Common Denominator, so these 'age bands' will inevitably contain the very easiest-to-read books they can find. I can think of no better way to make an intelligent 12 year old (or any kid) with potential despise education than by making them read books they read when they were four.

That said, this already exists in some measure, it's just less codified. When I was in fifth grade, the teachers were making the class read "Superfudge", a book I tore through in 2nd grade over a weekend. At the time I was working my way through the "Principles of Psychology, volume 2" and "Shogun". I had a letter sent home to my parents that I wasn't participating in class because instead of reading a stupid children's book that was years behind me I was reading real literature and non-fiction.

Luckily, my mother's response was: "Fuck them."

Go mom!

Remedy · 07-11-2008, 03:15 PM

You know, I've never actually seen a book that says "Age level: #" on it, much less of the cover. If I wanted a naughty book, I'd look for one, regardless of whether or not there was a marking indicating age on it.

Now, if there was something on the cover that said something to effect of, "This book is meant for ___ years old", I would understand being against it. But without that, I don't see the point; teachers need to gauge what level students are at somehow. Making it standardized across the nation is more objective than letting each individual teacher decide.