JK opposes age banding

According to the Scotsman newspaper – JK Rowling has weighed into the age banding debate and has added her name to the petition over on notoagebanding.org. The Scotsman seem to think that it is the end of line for age banding if JK opposes – I’m not sure one writer wields THAT much power?

Interestingly the Scotsman does include a round up of how the main UK children’s book publishers are currently standing on the issue.

Children’s publishers now fall into three camps. Walker Books, which was opposed to the move from the outset, has been joined by JK Rowling’s publisher, Bloomsbury, and about eight other major publishers. Against them are Random House, Scholastic and Egmont.

There is a also a quote from recent visitor to Dublin, Keith Gray about his opinion on age banding

Would those queues for Harry Potter have been so long if the books had had a ‘Teens’ sticker?” he asks. “Younger readers wouldn’t have bothered with it and neither would most of the grown-ups.

“The whole age-banding thing is a nonsense, and I’m very pleased JK Rowling is supporting the campaign against it.”

The age banding debate

There has been something of a kerfuffle among authors, illustrators and publishers in recent weeks concerning the inclusion of age guidelines on the cover of books for children. Publishers argue that adults need some guidance when choosing books for young people, authors and illustrators are countering that fundamentally what is best for the child should prevail.

Young readers are notoriously diverse, in interests, in ability and in enthusiasm for reading. It is likely that whatever age range might be attached to a book will be inaccurate for about 40% of the readers. A 7 year old who is a strong reader might be enjoying the same book as a 10 year old who isn’t so strong. And there in lies the problem… a one age range fits all will never fit all. If you are a poor reader aged 9, your confidence is not going to be helped by realising most of your reading material is branded 7+.

Equally confident readers may find there material curtailed by an over enthusiastic adult, librarian or bookseller. Darran Shan is convinced this will go one step further and end in publishers controlling more and more what ends up in books for young people. Darren put up a spirited opposition to the new idea on George Hook’s show on Newstalk last week. He has also been busy commenting on Achuka’s Blog and The Bookseller.com and Publishing News

Many of the heavyweight UK authors have signed up to www.notoagebanding.org including Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Anne Fine and Melvin Burgess. Meg Rosoff seems to be a lone dissenting voice, among the authors certainly, over on the Guardian’s Book Blog.

I’ve a feeling that we are heading towards patchy age ranging with some publishers going ahead with age banding and others bowing to pressure from their authors and not proceeding. What yet may be the most interesting aspect of this is when age branded and non age branded titles go head to head in bookshops…..