I read a review today for A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray over at Jace Scribbles. Though I’d seen reviews for this novel before, this is the first time I realized it’s actually a YA novel (totally my fault for not paying attention).
Lately I’ve noticed a flood of YA novels being reviewed around Blogland. I suppose I should clarify and say by lately I mean the last year or so. Either I didn’t really pay attention before or more and more adult reader blogs are looking into YA. Personally, I don’t recall reading any YA, with the exception of the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, though it’s possible I have and just don’t recall what titles. I can say I don’t generally search them out, however.
I’m wondering what the target age for YA is. I have an 11 year old daughter. She’s right on the cusp of womanhood, not quite a teenager, not quite a child. And I wonder, would a novel like A Great and Terrible Beauty be appropriate for my preteen? Are they marketed more for adults? For the older teenage crowds (ages 15-18 we’ll say)? For children my daughter’s age?
I ask because recently my mother bought my daughter White is for Magic by Laurie Faria Stolarz. On Amazon, it says the reading level for the book is ages 9-12, which would fit my daughter to a T.
Now, before I go any further I have to admit I’m extremely strict with both my children, and I really limit what they’re allowed to read, watch on television, look at online and listen to on the radio. I have parental guidance controls set up on their computer (speaking of, you should check out the Glubble add on for Firefox. It’s awesome for controlling what your children see/do online), skim through books before I give them to my children to read, watch movies (or check online reviews) before I let them see them, etc. I realize I may take this overboard a bit, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. My children will not be the ones meeting 40 year old perverts on Myspace at age 12. /soapbox
*ehem*
Since my mom purchased White is for Magic, my daughter was half finished with it before she brought it home. I began to have my doubts that it was appropriate reading material for her, right about the time she started asking what, exactly a casket was and why someone who was quite alive and well would be doing in one. Then, she wanted to know what a noose was.
I’m thinking 1) if she has to ask probably she shouldn’t be reading the book and 2) do I want my 11 year old reading a book where the main character dreams of waking in a casket, or sees herself standing outside her window with a noose around her neck? Probably not so much.
But the Amazon rating clearly says, Reading level: Ages 9-12, which is why my mom bought it for her. So then I’m thinking maybe it was mis-labeled and it should be for GRADES 9-12 rather than AGES 9-12. But then it won a Children’s Award, so maybe my daughter just isn’t as mature as other 9-12 year olds?
So then I start investigating some other novels on Amazon. A Great and Terrible Beauty is rated simply as Young Adult, though there is a note in the review from School Library Journal that it should be for Grade 9 and up. White is for Magic doesn’t. A search for Bestsellers in books: Any Category> Books > Teens > Mysteries on Amazon directs you to a page listing for books that’s topped with Creation in Death by JD Robb.
Do I think Creation is a wonderful book? Absolutely.
Do I think it’s a bit much for teens? Yep.
Some of the in Death novels are extremely graphic, and though I, as an adult, enjoy them, I certainly wouldn’t want my teenager reading them (although, to be fair, it would depend on the child and what exact age we’re referring to. 18? Probably not a big deal. 13? Major big deal).
Or perhaps I’m mistaken and the rating system on Amazon has nothing to do with content, but with the actual reading difficulty (meaning use of large words, etc)? If that’s the case, it’s rather misleading, don’t you think?
So what are your thoughts? Do you know exactly how the rating system on Amazon* is used? What target audience do you think YA is being marketed for? Would a novel like A Great and Terrible Beauty be appropriate for my 11 year old? What about White is for Magic? What tools are available to parents to find appropriate reading material for their young adults/preteens?
*I chose to pick on Amazon today for two reasons 1) I do 95% of my book shopping with them and 2) I was short on time and couldn’t research other sites. Please feel free to do so if you’d like.
This is a difficult question to answer. I think there are so many variables at work.
1) The maturity of the reader. I have 13y/o students who need to stick with Harry Potter, I have others that are reading Shakespeare.
2) Often times books are marketed for one audience, such as young adult, when the author never intended that. Garth Nix stated in an interview that he did not write his Abhorsen trilogy for YA audiences. It is actually only in the US that it is marketed that way.
3) Sometimes the people who rank the books or who purchase them for libraries have never read the books themself. This is the case at my school. It drives me crazy, but I have read more of the books in our school library than our librarian has. He purchases the books based on reccs from publishing lists and library lists. There has been an occasion or two when a parent has complained about the appropriateness of a book their child checked out. The librarian’s response is usually something along the lines of “It was on the Best of the Best list!” uh huh. Those lists are often put out by the publishers whose objective it is to sell books. Ignorance by those who are supposed to be in-the-know. /soapbox
I say 14 years old. My niece Chay Chay wants to start reading some of my Meg Cabot books but I told her she had to wait until she was 14 to read the YA books, so for now she’s enjoying the Princess Diaries books but she’s looking forward to reading the other books.
I tend to agree with Wendy’s hard and fast rule. 🙂
A Great And Terrible Beauty would be just about suitable for girls aged 16 upwards. There are some pretty steamy dream scenes though, which my reading buddy thought were too racy for 16-year-olds.
I do read YA, and had enjoyed quite a few. 🙂 Harry Potter obviously. LOL The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Holes by Louis Sachar. There are more, but I’d spare you the monotony of me rambling off the list. 😉
The librarian speaks:
The hard and fast rule is to look at the age of the protagonist in the book. If the protagonist is 12, chances are the book is going to be right up the alley of your average 12 year old kid. That being said, every child is different. So parents also need to think about the child’s reading and maturity levels.
I definitely agree that 11 is too young for A Great and Terrible Beauty – I would think maybe 14 or 15 at the earliest.
I have the same problem with movie ratings. For example, both Transformers and Iron Man are both rated M which means suitable for over 15s but my 9 year old is desperate to see Iron Man, and loads of his friends have already seen it. As for Transformers, someone ended up giving it too him for Christmas…not me!
First I have to say kudos to you Holls for keeping track of what your kids are watching/reading. We get so many parents coming into the library complaining that the books their kids are reading are not appropriate, but it’s THEIR job as a parent to monitor what their children are reading. At the same time we, as librarians, have to be careful what YA books we recommend to kids seeking books but ultimately it is up to the parents to keep track of what kids are reading.
As you probably know I have a book blog with a teacher friend of mine where we review nothing but YA lit. I would say that nothing that we’ve reviewed is suitable for 11 year olds, mostly because we review stuff for more mature teens.
I haven’t read A Great and Terrible Beauty yet, although it’s in my TBR pile!
I can shed a little light on this from the publishing and retailing side. I’m the author of WHITE IS FOR MAGIC’s editor, and I know a bit about how this information gets to Amazon.
Suffice it to say, Amazon is not evaluating the books in any way. They’re simply posting what publishers tell them, and what we tell them is comes in the form of an enormous database file with thousands of pieces of information about all of our books. This file isn’t created uniquely for Amazon, but gets transmitted to all book retailers, each of whom relays that info to readers slightly differently. Thus it’s possible for the same book to appear a little differently on BN.com versus Amazon.
At the moment, almost all of the books we publish for teens (“YA” or 12 to 18, broadly) are showing up as Ages 9-12 on Amazon. It’s been the case for a while, and lots of people are working to fix it, but it’s not nearly as simple as I imagined (and as you’re probably imagining) for reasons I won’t go into. And we’re not the only publisher with this problem.
As a practical matter, I would say that the publisher’s web site is the most likely source of age information that someone believes to be accurate about the book based on the content (which isn’t necessarily the same thing as age infomration that everyone can agree on). Libraries also may have some detail on age range.
I hope this is helpful.
Andrew,
Thank you, that is helpful. I knew Amazon wasn’t evaluating the books themselves, but I wasn’t sure where they got the information from.
I never imagined it would be easy to put a good rating system in place, but as a parent it’s frustrating. I’d like to be able to check a rating on a book (like I can for a movie or a video game) to at least have a base to go off of.
As a parent, I always check and double check the books my children read, but not every one does (as evidenced by my mother above), so it would be nice if there was some sort of labeling system in place. Don’t you think?
I do appreciate you taking the time to stop by and explain, though. Your response was very helpful.
As Jace mentioned Holes, I thought I would say that it was required reading for both of my boys in 4th grade (GATE).
As for the rest, I don’t always rely on Amazon. For instance, often I find they are totally off on one end or the other of their age ranges. I find their children’s books are often recommended for either too young or too old of an age range for the child to enjoy them. Even generalizing, I find that they are off by a few years.
So I always had to go by what they found in the school library that interested them, often by what their friends were reading, and sometimes just a trip to the bookstore for the afternoon. They would look around, find a book, then I’d scroll through it. Being the fast reader I am (you too, Holly), you can often glean the theme and the majority of the content within 5 or 10 minutes at the bookstore.
It’s tough letting go, though. Now my oldest is into Clive Cussler, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and Robert Jordan. Pretty adult stuff. Scary.
I always say it depends on the maturity/reading level of the child in question. I could have read A Great & Terrible Beauty at 11, but I was also reading adult novels at that age (I was much advanced).
I personally don’t think AGATB is appropriate for anyone under 13. I say that (I’m 31) because I just read it and found some of the writing disturbing. I reviewed it here http://goodandbadbooks.blogspot.com
It was an excellent book & I’m really enjoying the rest of the series.
Same thing with PC & Kristin Cast’s House of Night series. Definitely not for younger children, though I think teens should definitely read the series. It deals with death, friendship, love, etc. and very well-written. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
As a mom of a 9 yo. and a 13 yo., I think Wendy’s rule of the protagonists age is a pretty good guideline when selecting appropriate reading material for your young adults. But there are always exceptions that go either way, of course.
I actually read a lot of young adult (9-12) and teen fiction (12-18) over the years, and still do actually. I know a lot of adults either don’t have the time or interest in young adult fiction, but there is some really amazing writing out there that even adults would enjoy. My 13 yo. is sort of borderline ready for a lot of the teen fiction out there, so I am really keeping an eye on what she is reading. She read the Twilight series last summer (I had already read it), and I think she is ready for the Gemma Doyle trilogy this summer (fantastic series!!), but is not ready for Melissa Marr’s novels (which I also loved… but more suited for 15+ yo.). If I hadn’t already read these novels… I don’t know how I would have been able to accurately assess their appropriateness for my child.
I think A Great and Terrible Beauty would be suitable for teens aged 13 and above since they should be already quite mature.
But then YA books now sometimes have content that should only be in adult books! So it’s quite difficult to categorize the ones that are ‘safe’ or appropriate for youngsters like tweens.