Age Ratings for Books??

A topic that I have seen floating around quite a bit in the online book community is the issue of age ratings, and whether or not books should have them, and it's a good question. All other media that we consume has age ratings, such as movies, television, and video games, so why not books?

Well, my personal answer to this question is "no", but this has more to do with me not supporting age ratings for any type of media altogether. The world in which we live is not censored and stamped with an age rating, so why should our art and media be? But I'm not gonna talk about my distaste for age ratings as a whole; that's a whole different topic. I'm going to stick to exactly why I do not think that books should be subjected to age ratings and restrictions, and hopefully this will get some people thinking about this topic in a different way, and if there are disagreements, we can all agree to disagree!

Now, I'm gonna start off with a little personal narrative. When I was 11, I was strolling around Barnes & Noble, as I do, when I came across a particular book that interested me: "Carrie" by Stephen King. For those of you who are not familiar with this book, it's not one that is generally viewed as "appropriate for kids". It's a violent and graphic book that details sex, throws around curse words, and tackles the complex issue of abuse. Overall, it has mature themes. And I wanted to read it. After asking my mom if it was okay if I picked it up, she considered it for a moment, listened to my reasons why I wanted it, and finally decided to buy it for me. I was ecstatic and to this day, it remains one of my favorite books.

I feel like this story is relevant because it shows the complexity of dealing with mature stories and whether or not it is okay to expose children to these themes. It shows that whether or not a book is age-appropriate is completely subjective and all depends on the child or person. Some people may call my mom irresponsible for letting an 11-year-old read something so graphic, or that she didn't care about her child being exposed to inappropriate material, but in my experience, this was not the case.

My mom understood and still understands me to this day; she knew that I was a more mature and worldly reader even at age 11, and that I was not biting off more than I could chew when it came to this novel. And when I was done with the book, we talked about it in detail and had a dialogue about abuse and the corruption of religion. It was enlightening for me, and I still appreciate my mom so much for having these discussions with me at such a young age. Thanks, Mom!

Now, this isn't to say that I believe all 11-year-olds should be reading books with mature content, because I don't. All I'm saying is that we should not be so quick to shield younger readers away from questionable and adult themes by fear of it corrupting their minds, especially when the book is filled with good life lessons and can challenge readers. As I stated above, the world in which they live in is not censored or sugar-coated, so I do not believe that we should restrict anyone from experiencing mature content. It's a more realistic approach that not very many people may agree with, but it is how I was raised, and I turned out just fine.

When it comes down to it, I believe that whether or not a child is ready for a book is up for the parent and child to decide. I don't like the idea of it being a one-way street where the parent makes all the decisions of behalf of the child, and the child has absolutely no say in the matter. I think the best way to go about this is talking to your child and having a dialogue about what they want to read, and try to understand both points of view. All children are different; I read many graphic and mature books at age 13 and perhaps other 13 year olds wouldn't be comfortable with. Every parent should take their children's individual personalities into account when dealing with this issue.

This is starting to sound like a parenting advice column. Let's get back to books!

I think that instead of restricting mature books for young readers, such as requiring an ID when checking out explicit content, publishers should start looking into simple content warnings. This way, the reader knows the type of content that the book contains and can decide whether or not they can handle it. This is especially a big issue that I see in young-adult books, where the content can vary by such a large amount. For example, I had the pleasure of reading "A Court of Mist and Fury" by Sarah J. Maas last year, which is the sequel to "A Court of Thorns and Roses". ACOTAR is a YA book; the protagonist is in her teens, there is some mild language, some violence, and some mature content (but nothing too graphic). The sequel, on the other hand, has more explicit sex scenes, even more violence, intense language, and some instances of mental illness and abuse while still being classified as a YA book. This is a problem because maybe there are some readers out there who were unaware of the mature content (like me), and ended up reading a book that they were uncomfortable with (not so much me. I thoroughly enjoyed this book). This is where content warnings can come in handy; this way, we do not have to worry about restricting books based on something as arbitrary as age while also ensuring that younger readers are more aware of what they're going to be reading.

Overall, restricting books based on age doesn't do anything to protect children from the cruel reality of the world. It just pushes back the conversation to a later time. So much of our media is already censored; we don't need to censor books too. Books and literature is a fantastic way to immerse yourself in another world and broaden your vocabulary while also teaching great lessons and values on life. But this is just my opinion! I've heard many different perspectives on this, and will continue to listen to all sides of the argument, and hopefully one day we can all reach a consensus and solution of how to tackle this problem.

-Cass