books

What Does ‘Age Appropriate Books’ Mean?

 in Books / Interesting / Opinion by

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?

Book Covers: Are They Misleading? 1

 in Books / Interesting / Opinion / Young Adult by

This post is my thoughts & opinions on what I am seeing.

Book covers are a very important part of a book. They look gorgeous on your bookshelf, can be used as marketing tools and (for some of us) are the reason that we buy a book.

But one thing I’ve noticed recently is book covers of books that have quite adult themes are sometimes a little misleading and, through this, encouraging/enticing the wrong audience to read the book potentially.

The one book that immediately comes to mind is Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. Now before you freak out at me, I am not critiquing her book/cover/story (I haven’t even read it) but this is a conversation I have seen related to this books cover and others in that style. This is just the title I’m using as an example.

When you look at this cover (knowing nothing about the book), what do you think? What do you think the book is about? What age group do you think it’s for?

For me, I think high school/college romance. Something cutesy. Maybe something for younger adult readers or early adults (like the under 18 age range specifically, maybe even 16 and below).

If that’s what you thought, then you’d be pretty wrong. It’s a spicy, explicit book for 18+ readers. Not child friendly.

I want to be clear, I have no issue with the cover itself. I think it’s cute and definitely would have me read the synopsis. But nowhere on the book, or summary, would you get the indication that it is going to be a book for adults and not for younger readers.

If I was a parent and saw my child reading this book, I wouldn’t think anything of it.

Now, let’s compare it to these two books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you see those two books, you are most likely to at least question what the books are about. One of them clearly says “A Dark College Romance” which gives some kind of indication that this is not going to be cute and fluffy. And most certainly isn’t for kids.

I do feel that some of these more explicit books that have a softer cover need to have some kind of sticker on the front, side, back or inside to clearly indicate that this is not a book for young readers. Just something to indicate this book has spice, and adult spice at that. Similarly to movies having ratings on them to indicate the age rage.

Now, I am not here to dictate what age a young adult should be reading about adult themes. That is up to each parents decision. However, that decision should be informed and not easily snuck. Just like adult videos online are clearly labeled and can be restricted, such things in books should be as well. Especially when there are clearly explicit themes or the topics may be a little more unsavory. I did a whole other post about this related to dark romance specifically.

Put yourself in parents shoes!

Most parents will be upset when their child accesses adult content. In fact, most of those websites are only for 18+ and there’s even pushes to verify your age to keep safe! Books can be just as graphic – although with words. But words or visuals can still have the same impact, especially with people who got a good imagination. I know I can read a book or watch a movie and get the same feelings and experiences from it.

So why are books with such adult content allowed to be packaged and sold in a way that can be misleading? Why are libraries or stores potentially placing them in the wrong sections (I saw a post recently on Threads that ACOTAR was in the YA section in a store????). I’m not blaming stores either because with the volume of books out there they have to get through a lot of books and organize it. They can’t micro-analyze everything.

And by adult content, I am not even entirely meaning spice. Adult content can be from sex to violence to just general themes that a younger reader is probably not old enough to read about or understand safely (post coming on this soon).

But, books maybe should have a better system to be more clear in who the audience is.

Maybe use the library system on the spine?

When I go to a library, I see books organized by sections and based on the system of the library, it will say something like “YA” or “ADULT” on the spine to indicate the section it should be in. It’s something small but very quickly indicates the age rage.

Maybe color code?

I’ve seen some authors who write books color their books based on the theme/level of spice/content. Maybe having some kind of color on a spine (not the whole spine, but a dot or a square) to indicate the level of adult content in the book.

Rate books like movies?

Just like movies have ratings, maybe books need to utilize a similar system.

The book ratings, just like movie ratings, wouldn’t be limiting but more for awareness. Maybe books, book stores and libraries need to implement a system like movies do. If someone is not old enough, a parent just needs to say “Yup, I’m good with my kind taking this out.”

This is of course my opinion, but why in the world when we restrict access to adult content to 18+ can books be so widely accessible and be allowed to be “misleading” with their covers and synopsis. I use the word misleading loosely because covers are subjective and based on what the author wants the book to be represented by. And every author/publishing house has the right to give any kind of book any kind of cover! But to cover their bases, topic depending, maybe some kind of rating or piece of information needs to be given.

Books aren’t special. They are another form of media and the consumption of them can impact someone. Dark Romance books usually include trigger warnings because they can trigger people. Movies have warnings and trailer that indicate what the level of violence is or what the topic may be.

And this idea about rating books isn’t limited to romance. There are plenty of travel books I read that based on the synopsis and cover I thought would be light, only to be hit by some terribly dark themes that made the books difficult to read.

I don’t have the clear answer on how to fix this issue – or what I see as an issue. But this should be a conversation to protect younger readers, and also just anyone else reading books.

Books are made for certain ages for a reason. Not to limit someones access to the book, but to protect the readers. Similar to how you talk about topics in different ways based on ages and level of understanding.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig [Book Review]

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

“Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This is the next book being read for the book club I’m in and I’m not sure if I would have stumbled across this book without them. I absolutely devoured this book in about 2 days, and it only took that long because I was busy and I needed some time to digest what I was reading. This story was utterly unique in my opinion and was filled with some interesting lessons about what could be a very complicated subject, but ultimately boiled it down to something simple. While this book did address themes of suicide and death, I would say that it was so gentle and eloquently done no trigger warnings would be needed, however, if that is a theme you do not like do be aware of that.

A world between worlds – The Midnight Library!

The Midnight Library was essentially like purgatory in a way. A place between heaven and hell when you die that allows you to try other lives to possibly not die. The library is filled with an infinite number of books which represent all the lives out there across all the universes. Some of these lives are parallel and some are perpendicular. Someone who is crossing over could experience other lives and, if the universe deemed it so, would allow them to live in that life and carry on if they fit. If no life was chosen, the root life (or the life of the person dying who arrived in the library ) would cease to exist. This honestly was such a beautiful way to describe this kind of in-between.

A journey to find what is wanted in life, or what isn’t. Nothing is perfect.

This book followed Nora to travel through hundreds and thousands of different lives to find a meaning to live. In the beginning of the book (not a spoiler) she ultimately committed suicide because she felt completely and utterly alone. She felt that she was pretty much a waste of space because everything was going wrong in her life – or that is what she perceived. Arriving in the library, she got to try all these various lives based on what she thought would be the perfect life and make her happy. She was wealthy, she lived abroad, she had a career she wanted and every other permeation. And in almost all of them she wasn’t what she would describe as happy. In all those lives there was something that she didn’t like – a worse relationship with her brother, being with someone that she couldn’t stand or just the general life style. Nora seemed to be searching for this textbook perfect life.

When she did find one she did like – a life that was honestly very beautiful – she wanted to stay but couldn’t. The narrator librarian, Mrs. Elm, seemed to express that she couldn’t find one because she wanted to live in her own root life and the universe couldn’t let her take over another life when she wanted to live. She ultimately fell back into her root life and from all the lives she lived, took those experiences and was able to make something positive in her new one.

A story of healing and self-awareness.

The story really showed how insularly we sometimes view our lives and that every small thing that happens is because of us. Through this book, Nora got to see how potentially fortunate she was  and also become aware of some poor choices. She also was able to erase some of her regrets which seemed to weigh her down. As she was able to experience regrets in other lives she was able to see that she wasn’t missing out on anything. This removed a weight from her and allowed her to see the world in a new light.

Was just a little confused a few times.

The story itself is simple but there were moments that I was maybe slightly confused or felt maybe it was a little like…huh? The idea that a person can slide into another persons life felt a bit creepy to me to be honest. That you could juts slide into someone else’s consciousness and not only live through them for a bit but take over. That did feel like the root life was the most important life which kind of diminished the other lives in my opinion. I know this is super small but that just bothered me deep down. Just thinking about it from big picture but in a weird way, it also pulled at the idea mentioned in the beginning by Nora. Essentially that having a choice in life (depending on what you believe) can be an illusion. So this is a weird point to bring up. But I just kept feeling that as she’d slide into lives and take over the consciousness of someone else.

An absolutely beautiful story of challenges and gaining new perspectives.

This book was honestly beautiful! I absolutely loved it from the first page until the last one. It had so many good lessons, so many interesting things to share and just the idea of presenting it this way was creative. I felt Haig crafted a beautiful story that will stick with you and a beautiful library to journey through the story.

I will absolutely be reading this again over the years because it does feel like a story that you will take different things from it depending on where you are in your life. That is just the nature of this kind of story.

I give this a 5 out of 5 stars! An absolutely wonderful read and one I would recommend to others!

There’s some interesting other reviews on it like over at NPR and The New York Times.

Happy Reading!

 

Are Honest Book Reviews a Thing of the Past?

 in Books by

The internet has brought many amazing things but it has also brought many bad things. One of these is the online Bookstagram/Booktok community. Before you run off and be like “how dare she”, hear me out! This is my super, on fire, hot take.

 

Answer this question to yourself: How many books have you seen all over it, hyped up so much, and when you read it felt it was pretty bad of a book?

 

I honestly feel like I’ve read a few of these. Fourth Wing was one, Mexican Gothic was another. I felt like as a book they were okay but as hyped as they were they really didn’t meet the mark.

 

Now, I will recognize that these are my opinions! However, I will also note I’ve seen similar comments made on these books and others that I had these feelings about too. So I’m not alone in this.

So what is going on??

We all know on social media, there is a heard mentality. I mean that happens in life too. You see someone doing something, and then another, and suddenly you get FOMO and you have to read it. If everyone has loved something, you need to as well right? Society creates a bit of a fear from swimming against the current and saying “you know…this wasn’t that good.” Unfortunately this just then adds more to the hype and it keeps snowballing!

 

Before you know it a book has taken over social media and EVERYONE absolutely loved it.

 

There’s also a fear of leaving a bad review. Social media, modern day and everything else has told us we are all perfect. We can do no wrong. But sometimes…a book is just really bad. The writing may be atrocious, the story may go nowhere, it may have just been a waste of your time. I am all for supporting authors and indie authors, but if a book is bad be honest. There’s a way to provide negative feedback in a positive way without saying “you’re a terrible author, don’t write again”. But giving a book 5 stars when it really only deserved 3, or less, is a disservice to the author and to other readers.

 

There’s an oversaturation of books on the market with the ability to public ebooks and self publish now. And I’ll say it loudly – there are a lot of terrible books out there. Just because you can publish and have the ability to string a sentence together does not always mean you should.

 

There’s a difference between writing for yourself to be creative and writing to publish and make serious money. 

 

 

Heck, I love writing stories and have so many being written. Would I ever publish them to make money? Not in a million years because I am not a writer and I know it wouldn’t do well.

 

Additionally, there is a bit of a fear about giving a bad review when you’re asked to review a book.  Support those authors, read their ARCs, give them the support they need. But be honest. I know it can be awkward because the author asked you read their review (in ARC cases) but honesty is the best policy. This is why I’d never take money to review a book because then you have this weird want to not speak negatively.

 

This leads to the next point – paid reviews can result in questionable reviews. I never trust a paid review for anything. A reviewer can say it is their personal opinion, however there was money involved which will of course have subconsciously altered their thoughts. They may not even know it. You also may have a fear about being honest in reviews since there was a financial transaction. I don’t count reviewing a book for free as financial benefits. I’m talking where they send the book and pay to have the book reviewed. That’s a big no no to me.

 

Finally, I no longer trust a book blindly that states that it was on the NY Times Best Seller List. With all the information above, the payment of promotions for books to get people to buy them and lots of other factors, a book on that list doesn’t necessarily mean it is an amazing book. It just means that it sold a lot of copies – which is not an indicator of how good a book is!

 

Ultimately, I have started a policy of no longer jumping on the bandwagon and reading a book when I see it all over Bookstagram, Book Twitter or any other place. Reviews will always influence our decision to read a book and that is not going to change. What can change is peoples honesty in reviewing the books to not waste time. I have wasted so much time on bad books because of questionable reviews. If I read a bad book by my choice that’s my decision. If I read it because it had a 4.8 average because of “false” reviews, that’s when I become a little annoyed.

via GIPHY

I absolutely recognize that this is not easy to change but I do feel that something needs to change. I’m personally a little bored of reading books that weren’t worth it because they took over for some strange reason. Will it change? Who knows but we can hope.

 

This is certainly one of my pet peeves and hot take opinions.

 

What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to hear some other view points in the comments!

Last Minute Bookish Gifts | Kindle Unlimited or Audible!

 in Books by

With the holiday’s rapidly approaching, you may be scrambling for some good last minute gifts.

If you have a book reader on your list, I have two great items that are sure to make them incredibly happy!

You could gift them Kindle Unlimited or Audible during this holiday season!

What is the difference?

Kindle Unlimited gives you access to thousands of books that you can read for free through your membership on various devices. You don’t need an Amazon device (but that would be a great gift too) to utilize it either! You can read from any computer, smartphone or an Amazon device if you want.


Audible is for audio books. If you know your reader really enjoys listening to their books read, then this is a fantastic option!

Or, why not gift both!!! You can choose various length options (and the gifting appears to be a better bang for your buck too) to let them enjoy both.

Or if you have access to their account, you could pay for Audible Plus for them which gives you all the amazing benefits of Audible but lets you keep one of the things you listen to each month, all yours!

These kind of gifts don’t get much better and for last minute dashes, you can be sure to give them a smile. I mean who doesn’t want unlimited books????