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Reading books, and letting your kids read books, is a very personal choice. Children develop at different speeds and have different experiences which influence them.
A lot of books for younger readers are classified for certain ages and then up to certain books being ‘adult’ books.
But what does it mean to read an age appropriate book?
First off, you have the writing style and word choices. There is certain vocabulary that certain ages just do not know. That’s part of schooling and development. I don’t think you’re going to see many 7 years olds reading Jane Austen – but you may!
Next, you have the topics and themes that are in the books. I’ve touched on this with other posts in the past, but certain themes shouldn’t be in certain books. Children’s books shouldn’t be over violent, over graphic with their topics or over sexualized. The kind of violence you see in kids books may be bullying versus an adult book which could be murder! Romance in kids books is holding hands, maybe kissing for younger adults and then adult books having the horizontal tango.
But you, or others, may say “well, I don’t mind my child reading adult books with adult themes.”
I want to be clear, you are welcome to that opinion as as a parent you have every right to parent your child. However, one thing to consider is what is considered safely understanding something as well.
Children are developing. They are learning right from wrong. They are learning what being a ‘good’ person is.
I heard from a fellow Bookstagrammer that younger boys were reading Haunting Adeline, you know the book about stalking and some very dark things, and there was a concern that it would color them. Color them as in make them think that these things were okay because the book was so popular.
You sometimes see adults on the Biker side of Instagram reading some of our darker books and being like “You guys like this?” Liking something in a book and wanting that actually in real life is different. Knowing what is okay and what is not is the important line.
Younger readers may not have those skills yet. To be honest, there’s plenty of adults who don’t either. But when you are young, you are impressionable and so being a bit more careful is useful.
Books for younger people address topics in different ways and use different language. It’s not always because they can’t know about things, but because it’s presented in a way that they can understand.
So absolutely, if your child reads above their level that is fine! But certainly have them read books with themes that are appropriate for their ages. Or at least consider the impact of what they are reading. Some children’s life experience have them exposed to certain things before others. That’s okay! But doing it in a healthy way, with healthy conversations, is important.
Make sure that if your children do read those kind of books, especially if they have access to Amazon Kindle Unlimited (where a lot of these books can be easily access), that they know that they can come to you with questions to understand what they are reading.
Kids are naturally curious. I know that I was and we have to do our best to protect them. Books are one unrestricted way that they can access information – I know I used to sneak adult books in the library because no one would know! So creating a safe space and letting them know that they can ask questions about anything they read creates a healthy reading environment in a world full of potentially ‘unhealthy’ books.
What do you think about all of this?
