And you better believe I have some deep thoughts on this.
Before we get into any of the nitty or the gritty, let me explain the basics of the situation: Barnes and Noble has started posting "age appropriateness" scores next to some of the books on their website. A group called "Common Sense Media" is doing the scoring, and they rank whether a book is in the green (age appropriate) in the yellow (iffy whether the intended age group can handle it) or red (any sentence will make your head explode and/or turn Communist at first glance).
There's a really good article about this on Salon in regards to Judy Blume's "Are You there God, It's Me Margaret."
Basically, Common Sense Media listed her book as "questionable" (the controversial yellow zone) for the age bracket because of, and I quote "mentions of Playboy, kissing, menstruation, bras, [and] emerging sexuality."
Now at what age do they think the fragile mind of the child is ready to read about bras and Playboy? 14 to 17. I shit you not.
I know it's gotta be tough for any group to figure out the age appropriateness for a book, but really? 14 to 17? 17 like you're a senior in high school? 17 like you can sign up for the military? 17 like you can get a super douchey dye job and listen to Limp Bizkit (author's note: at least that's what I did when I was 17).
Going by this scale, kids shouldn't be allowed to read Sophomore Undercover until they're 45, and by that point, my readers will probably be a little too worried about mortgage payments and upcoming prostate exams to appreciate the delicate humor and locker room hijinks.
The worst part about this whole thing is that the Common Sense Media rating is just staring at you right in the face when you go to the Barnes and Noble website. Not every parent is gonna have time to think through whether little Sally's 12 year old psyche can handle some "emerging sexuality" and "bra" talk. No, they're just gonna see that the book is in the dreaded red or yellow zone, and buy them something that isn't offensive.
But do you want to know what's offensive? Every other goddamn thing that a 12 year old is exposed to in the media. If we're gonna keep kids away from Judy Blume because it's too racy, well, that's insane, but I'd be willing to go along with it if we had the same standards for video games, TV, movies and the Internet. There's quite a bit of material about "emerging sexuality" on those things too, but I think Judy Blume covers it with a bit more grace than the Jersey Shore.
Getting kids to read is difficult enough already. Let's not keep them from some really great books just because of a little menstruation and Playboy talk.
NOTE:
Sophomore Undercover didn't get rated by Common Sense Media, so that kept my righteous indignation in check a bit. I don't want to beg or anything, but what does a fella have to do to get a little negative attention from a parent's group?
Before we get into any of the nitty or the gritty, let me explain the basics of the situation: Barnes and Noble has started posting "age appropriateness" scores next to some of the books on their website. A group called "Common Sense Media" is doing the scoring, and they rank whether a book is in the green (age appropriate) in the yellow (iffy whether the intended age group can handle it) or red (any sentence will make your head explode and/or turn Communist at first glance).
There's a really good article about this on Salon in regards to Judy Blume's "Are You there God, It's Me Margaret."
Basically, Common Sense Media listed her book as "questionable" (the controversial yellow zone) for the age bracket because of, and I quote "mentions of Playboy, kissing, menstruation, bras, [and] emerging sexuality."
Now at what age do they think the fragile mind of the child is ready to read about bras and Playboy? 14 to 17. I shit you not.
I know it's gotta be tough for any group to figure out the age appropriateness for a book, but really? 14 to 17? 17 like you're a senior in high school? 17 like you can sign up for the military? 17 like you can get a super douchey dye job and listen to Limp Bizkit (author's note: at least that's what I did when I was 17).
Going by this scale, kids shouldn't be allowed to read Sophomore Undercover until they're 45, and by that point, my readers will probably be a little too worried about mortgage payments and upcoming prostate exams to appreciate the delicate humor and locker room hijinks.
The worst part about this whole thing is that the Common Sense Media rating is just staring at you right in the face when you go to the Barnes and Noble website. Not every parent is gonna have time to think through whether little Sally's 12 year old psyche can handle some "emerging sexuality" and "bra" talk. No, they're just gonna see that the book is in the dreaded red or yellow zone, and buy them something that isn't offensive.
But do you want to know what's offensive? Every other goddamn thing that a 12 year old is exposed to in the media. If we're gonna keep kids away from Judy Blume because it's too racy, well, that's insane, but I'd be willing to go along with it if we had the same standards for video games, TV, movies and the Internet. There's quite a bit of material about "emerging sexuality" on those things too, but I think Judy Blume covers it with a bit more grace than the Jersey Shore.
Getting kids to read is difficult enough already. Let's not keep them from some really great books just because of a little menstruation and Playboy talk.
NOTE:
Sophomore Undercover didn't get rated by Common Sense Media, so that kept my righteous indignation in check a bit. I don't want to beg or anything, but what does a fella have to do to get a little negative attention from a parent's group?
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