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Caroline Horn

Caroline Horn is The Bookseller's Children's News editor. She will be blogging on issues and events in the children's book world.

A time for age-ranging

30.11.07

Age ranging children's books – where an indication of reading or interest age is included on the cover of a title – is one of those issues that has resurfaced periodically for longer than most in the industry care to reflect. In a world well populated by specialist children's booksellers and librarians, age ranging books just didn't seem to have a place.

But the children's book world has changed considerably over the last ten years and books themselves have to work harder, and more quickly, to end up in the right hands. The chains generally offer a wonderful selection of titles but while these may be on age-ranged shelves, consumers can still find this choice overwhelming. It is even harder in non-traditional outlets where the POS support is minimal. A small paragraph in a BML report, Growing the Market (2005), was emphatic - consumers needed more help.

Finally, the industry (which is often reluctant to invest in research) decided that the time was right to explore this in more detail and undertook a series of research programmes with retailers, adults and children.

This threw up a few surprises, many positive. For example, adults really do like buying books for children – they want to buy books much more than they want to buy DVDs or computer games for their nieces, nephews, grand children etc. They also like remembering the books they enjoyed as a child. But, more than anything, the research showed how much they struggled to buy books for children. More surprising was the level of support that booksellers on the shop floor gave to age ranging children's titles – they needed more guidance to sell books, too.

While there are still many opinions against age ranging children's books, the research is simply overwhelmingly in favour of including age guidance on children's titles. The debate will need to continue, to explore the best way of implementing that guidance. But what cannot be in doubt at this stage is that age ranging will happen.

Hopefully, there will be additional research further down the line to refine the system chosen and to ensure it was implemented in the best possible way, as well as indicating, once and for all, whether or not age ranging really does help to sell more children's books.

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By Leila

I find myself wondering who age-ranging will benefit. Certainly it will benefit adults buying books for children. They won't need to put as much effort or thought into the process. But imagine an actual child, in a bookshop, or a library. The natural thing for that child to do would be to turn to the shelves and look through the books until one story draws them in. 'Too old' or 'too young' shouldn't come into it - a child will learn new words if that is what it takes to understand a story that has grabbed them. (And isn't that what adults want them to do?). On the other hand, I don't see any reason why a teenager shouldn't enjoy Where The Wild Things Are, or any other great picture book. A good book is a good book at any age. But if there is already an adult voice warning them off on the cover - 'No, this book is only for 7 -9 year olds, and you're 6,' or 'No, this is a book for 9 - 11 year olds, and you're 13,' their choice is immediately limited. It's like saying to two children: "Oh, you're the same age - you'll be friends, won't you?" - "This book is for 7-9 year olds, so you'll enjoy it more than this one that's for 9-11 year olds". In both cases, no, not necessarily. If the problem is knowing when to expect explicit content, why not have a Parental Advisory sticker on books that contain sex, drugs, etc? I've seen these on books before now.

30 Nov 07 18:18

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By Carlie Lee

I agree with Leila's comment, whilst age categorisation may benefit adults buying for children, it might narrow the choice that the children would select for themselves. I realise (from your in-depth article) that a test was carried out on children to see if the age bothered them, but I was surprised by the results. Both of my daughters are madly age-concious and hate anything that could be considered 'babyish'. My eldest even refuses to wear age 3-4 trousers, despite the fact they fit perfectly and have green sparkles. I also wonder how the age banding will fit in with the national curriculum, especially with the renewed trend for polyphonics. Are the gang investigating age banding also talking to the Department of Education? On the up side though, any sort of orientation for adults buying books must be a good thing; the more confident they feel in the choice of a product, the more likely they are to make it to the till...

03 Dec 07 14:36

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By amanda craig

Caroline Horne has put her finger on a throny issue. As a children's book reviewer (for The Times) I have to include suggested age-range for the books I review, and this is one of the trickiest part of the job. Children vary greatly in their vocabulary and intellectual grasp of subjects - for instance, my 12 year old son is currently reading Lord of the Flies as an anti-desert island survival manual, rather than an exploration of evil. As Leila rightly says, a teenager can enjoy Where the Wild Things Are. There are classic picture books such as Each Peach, Pear Plum which are simple enough for a two-year-old to understand, but which need a child to have absorbed several fairy-tales to really get the jokes. My own feeling is that age guidance can only be rough, that children ought to be encouraged to explore and enjoy some difficulty (how many know what "soporific" means in Beatrix Potter's The Flopsy Bunnies?) and that parents ought to read to and with children for much longer than most do - I'd suggest until 13. What matters most is that reading is a pleasure and not, as it is at school, a penance. The more parents as well as children are encouraged, the better.

04 Dec 07 11:49

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By Eleanor Updale

All the comments so far are spot on. And there are other things to consider too -- not least what will happen a few years down the line. If children (and pushy parents) start choosing books that are 'too old' on the 'does my brain look big in this?' principle, not only will some children face the ultimate turn-off of being given books they don't enjoy, but the time will come when everybody in publishing knows that a book marked for (say) age 9 should actually be suitable for 7-year-olds. Will authors then be instructed by their publishers to 'write down' to match the real audience? Even if the books are accurately tagged in the first place, the psychology of the book-buying public could render the scheme obsolete in a very short time. And what about the book that, after publication, finds its readership in an unexpected age group? If the publisher's original estimate proves wrong, but is printed on on the cover, it can't be changed. An unmarked book could easily be moved to a shelf with a different label. I agree that this proposed system seems to be designed for lazy adult shoppers and lazy booksellers rather than for the sake of real children and happy reading. But even so, only 40% of the adults questioned in this very small sample said they would buy more books if they were marked with ages. That means 60% didn't. Hardly a ringing endorsement. And simple logic suggests that age ranging must narrow the potential market for each book, even if within that market a few timid customers might feel more confident. That might be enough to persuade the publishers and shops that don't 'hand sell' that it's a good idea. After all, if, within each band, more books sell, it really doesn't matter to them (in the short term) if those individual titles are miss-sold. But what about librarians, who don't stand to make more money from age ranging? it would be interesting to hear from them. Much of the debate about this plan has been conducted in the language of the benign discourse that inevitably surrounds children's books. We all think reading is a good thing, that books are inherently lovely, and that literacy should be encouraged. But this age ranging plan is really all about sales. Obviously sales are important -- without them there would be no books at all -- but the industry should not pretend that age ranging is some sort of goodwill gesture to the customer. It's a manipulation of the customer to target their purchasing power. If you want people to buy something you flatter them -- or supply a gift-giver with a means of flattering the recipient. What godmother would not want to imply that her 7-year-old godson was a 9+ reader? Who would be honest (or cruel) enough give the perfect book for a particular 9-year-old if it were marked 7+? The exponents of the scheme say that the plus sign in recommendations such as 9+ will be seen as a positive thing. Every child I have ever met would steer clear of a book with that label after the age of 8. It's hard enough to get real teenagers to read 'teen' fiction without calling it 12+. It mystifies me that publishers don't know this. Publishing seems to be dominated by women. Haven't they had ever had to cut the age labels out of clothes to get their children to wear them? Or do they all have very big children, proudly swaggering around in age 10 jumpers from the age of 6 -- or skinny daughters proud to be wearing age 12 trousers at 15? The idea of putting ages on books isn't new. I'm told that Puffin did it years ago, but abandoned the scheme. Does anyone know why?

16 Dec 07 19:21

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By Keith Mansfield

A terribly misguided idea. Children's reading ages develop at such fantastically different rates that this will clearly stigmatize the later developers. If you're 9 but can't cope with a 7+ book, how will the other people in your class react to you? And what if you're 12 but love a series branded 9+? It's just not cool to keep buying those books... And what if you're writing and your publisher insists the book must come with a 7+ label - do you stay true to your story and characters or decide to play it safe so no one could possibly consider your content unsuitable. The world of self-censorship comes ever closer. I hope it's not too late for the industry to see sense.

06 Apr 08 14:36

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By Marion Greenleaves

I agree wholeheartedly with all the comments here and for me the nub of it is - 'Age ranging won't cost the industry sales,' - but I would argue it will take away a certain freedom to explore and be an individual, take risks and make mistakes.

30 Apr 08 21:43

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By Diane Sekeres

I live in the US and buy most books from Amazon and similar sites. I also review books; some of those I read have age ranges printed on the back covers, and some do not. I have to include age ranges from publishers in my reviews. If they aren't on the book, I look on Amazon to see what's published there. I was curious as to whether Amazon.co.uk included age ranges so I looked up The Savage by David Almond. The US Amazon site has an age range, the UK site doesn't. I wonder if the authors who have signed the statement opposing the move in the UK have noticed differences in the sales and readership of their books in the two countries? We've had them here since before I became involved in reading and teaching about children's literature, so I was surprised that you didn't have them in the UK. An example of an ideological "obviousness" in the States.

03 Jun 08 00:45

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