Tell Me Something Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Cambria @ CambriaHebert.com.
Each week there will be a new question to answer and share. This is a great way for bloggers to get to know one another.
This week's question:
Do you think YA books should have ratings?
My Answer:
What a great question - one that really makes me think!
My first thought was, I'd like to say no, because if it is for a young adult audience, shouldn't the author gear it there appropriately? But then I got to thinking, a young adult audience is so very vast in age group. And depending on the maturity of the individual, the content could be vast as well.
In saying this, now I'd have to say yes. It would be a grand idea to place some type of rating system in place for not only YA novels, but all novels. My thoughts on a rating system is a little different though than what would be considered a "rating" so to speak. I was thinking more like listing the type of content that could be encountered: graphic violence, sexual content, adult language, etc.
I hate to tell I teen that they can't read a book, when we as teachers have such a hard time getting many of them to read to begin with. Also, many of the classics that we encourage students to read have what might me considered offensive material. I think if we get too far in a rating system, we could be looking at the banned book issue again! I'd hate that thought!!!
I guess a rating system could get a little crazy, but they do it for movies, why not books. And as I commented above, I don't think it should be limited to YA. I don't think it would hurt to do it to all books. That way a reader could pick it up and see if it is truly the type of content they wish to read. Sometimes the blurb on the back or inside cover does not pick up on all of the possibilities. The blurb is there to attract a reader, not to warn them.
So many thoughts going on in my mind, but I don't want to ramble - so I will stop with that.
I'm anxious to see what others have to say!!!
What are your thoughts?
