If you haven't already seen the press on this Juliet Doyle gives a very good background here.
It may be very 'middle class' of me but I am against the age branding on books. I'm immersed in books 24/7 - in my 'work', reading to my 3 year old and I rarely go to sleep without dipping into a book (I sometimes have two on the go - one downstairs and one upstairs - and have been known to stay up late into the night to get to the end). My relationship with books started at an early age and it is something that I have tried to pass on to my son, cousins, god children and friends - basically if you've got a birthday coming up you are going to get a book from auntie Dougalfish!
I can see the reasons behind it - but feel the arguments against it are more valid than those for.
For a start READING age differs from actual age. Some children take longer to read than others for various reasons. A lot has already been done to ensure that children are exposed to books - at 3 my son has received 3 different book packs from BookStart, the 'library lady' is a regular at local toddler groups and nursery school make books and important part of the day. As for the 'danger' of reading books to early I was *very* popular at school when it was discovered I had a copy of Judy Blume's Forever when I was 12 - did it make me promiscuous? On the contrary I was very, very far from it.
So what are your feelings on it? - do you think that age branding will help or hinder the struggle to get children to read? do you want to be told what is suitable reading for your child? (I read a chapter of this to my son yesterday because he wanted to see what I was reading) does your child have the same reading age as his/her actual age? What does your child choose to read?
Wednesday 11 June 2008
Age Branding on Children's books
(just one shelf of my son's bookcase)
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Well, I am generally against labelling as you probably know and certainly when it comes to age suitability for books it seems seriously misguided.
Three of my four children were early readers and able to read books of the Harry Potter genre at around 7 years of age. There were always books in the house and, because my daughter is so much older, when my sons were 7 or 8 there was a huge range of books for older readers available in the house. But if I took them to Waterstones, where the books are in broad categories (I forget exactly what the labels are) they would ONLY choose from the "correct" category even though I would say "but you enjoy this or that book even though it is an older or younger section."
Children vary enormously in their maturity (both in terms of reading ability and emotional maturity) so they need to be able to browse freely. They are amazingly good at choosing books that they will enjoy if you leave them to do it alone.
I know my youngest would be very discouraged (he is not a good reader) if the books he were reading were labelled "age 3-5" or something because he is 6. He'll soon catch up and the last thing I want is for him to be put off by feeling he is "behind". In Germany children do not even start any formal learning until they are his age so there he would be considered advanced!
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