I really wish books came with ratings like movies.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not a fan of banning books, but I am a fan of informing users.
The idea that books like To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn are banned in some schools, but those same schools shelve Dragon Ball Z manga leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I love books, and the two banned books I mentioned are on my all-time favorite list. I just think the text should fit the maturity of the reader.
Yes, by the time most kids reach high school, almost anything is a go... but I'm talking more about the 6-14 crowd. It terrifies me a little bit knowing that it will be nearly impossible for me to read every book Reily wants to read before she does, but I want to try. I don't want to overprotect her or shelter her so much that she is smothered and naive, but I do want to be a good steward of her childhood.
Most parents are not cognizant enough of their children's entertainment input. They see a preview for a movie that happens to be a cartoon and assume it's child-appropriate. Obviously, that is seriously flawed logic, but the same principles apply to books. Books are more complicated, though, because parents are less likely to ever be exposed to the substance between the covers.
We label movies, music, and video games; why not books?
The argument could be made that books are already labeled as "young adult", but seriously...what does that even mean? I'm not saying they should set up a hard and fast age range for every book, but an indication on the cover about sexuality, language, violence, etc would be extremely helpful.
No comments:
Post a Comment