The Bookseller.com

3rd December 2008

Anthony Horowitz’s new novel, The Power of Five: Necropolis (Walker Books) is out on 30th October.

Banding together

26.06.08

Until a few weeks ago, I had never even heard of age banding, but now I’m one of more than 2,000 writers,­ librarians and teachers who have signed the petition against it. The idea of stamping books with an age range was first mooted, with the best intentions, by the Children’s­ Book Group of the Publishers Association.

I’m not going to repeat all my objections here. Philip Pullman has already set out the case against both elegantly and unarguably, and you can find his views at www.notoagebanding.org. It does annoy me that people I have never even met are trying to impose their views on my work. I also have to ask what makes the CBG so sure that they know best. They now admit that their research was limited, and it has anyway been withdrawn.

For my part, I would like to make two simple observations.

Age banding seems to be aimed at non-specialist outlets such as supermarkets where families who are not familiar with authors and titles may be tempted to make purchases for the first time. The fact that many super­markets are now stocking children’s books is certainly to be applauded.

But books are not just products. They belong to the authors who wrote them and the children who read them, and that relationship is a very special one. If supermarkets—or non-specialist bookshops, for that matter—really believe that the blurb and the cover design and the critics aren’t enough to age band a book, why can’t they simply add their own label? It will be inexpensive—and it will be their own point of view . . . not part of the book itself. That’s the important point.

And anyway, people don’t buy books because they think they’re the right age, the right size or anything else. They do so on a whim. According to a recent poll in The Bookseller, only 2% of books are bought because booksellers or librarians have recommended them. If ever there was an inexact science, this is it, and pinning the right book to the right kid is about as easy as nailing water to the wall.

In fact, my own Alex Rider books have been purposefully designed to look more adult than they really are. It’s possible, I suppose, that some eight-year-olds may shy away from them, but I think that’s a price worth paying. At the other end of the spectrum, I find them being read by young offenders in prison, some as old as 18. Do we really want to advertise their poor literacy skills? Do we want to make them feel bad about themselves?

But still the Children’s Book Group won’t back down. That’s what really puzzles me. Yes, they’re smart. Yes, they’re influential. But if they don’t listen to children’s authors, I do wonder: why are they there?

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