Age Limits for Books - Authors Fight Age Banding

Age-specific movie ratings have been standard practice for decades, but the censorship technique could soon be seen in books.

Just like movies, publishers would implement parental guidance suggestions for the types of materials suitable for each age group.

However, if Philip Pullman, the author of The Golden Compass and His Dark Materials trilogy, has his way, enough people will sign his online petition rebelling the concept of age guidance limits for printed materials. He says the new rules would be, “ill-conceived and damaging to the interests of young readers”.

“Each child is unique, and so is each book,” it says on notoagebanding.org, the petition site. “Accurate judgments about age suitability are impossible, and approximate ones are worse than useless.”