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Authors rebel against age ranges

30.05.08

The controversy over plans to put recommended age ranges on the covers of children's books ignited at the Hay festival, notes the Guardian, with authors speaking both for and against proposals due to be implemented by a wide group of children's publishers later this year.

Marcus Sedgwick, who won last year's Booktrust teenage prize with a sinister vampire tale, My Swordhand is Singing, described the initiative as a "disaster", while Carnegie medal-winner David Almond called it "silly".

The initiative comes after research commissioned by the Children's Book Group of the Publishers' Association in autumn 2006 suggested that 86% of consumers were in favour of age guidance, an interpretation which has been challenged by others within the industry. Rebecca McNally, publishing director of Macmillan's children's division, was keen to stress that the idea was to provide "loose guidelines", and that Macmillan authors had reacted favourably.

Francesca Simon, author of the bestselling Horrid Henry series, added: "It's about getting rid of bookshops," she suggested. "It's about selling books through supermarkets or over the internet, without the kind of specialist guidance you can get from a bookseller."

Guardian

hay children's Home age guidance

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By Rebecca McNally

I'd like to clarify that *most* of the Macmillan authors I've heard from have reacted favourably. I wrote to our frontlist authors in mid-April, prior to the Society of Authors meeting on the subject. To date, three of our authors have asked us not to include age-guidance on their titles, and we have agreed to this. Of course there is an array of opinion on this minefield of a subject, but I firmly believe that it's a worthwhile endeavour in trying to communicate clearly with the adults who buy books for children, many of whom are totally lost in the kids' section of a bookshop (and I'd include many of my friends among them - which is why they end up ringing the only children's publisher they know for advice when choosing books as presents for nieces, nephew and godchildren). Our intention is absolutely NOT to get rid of bookshops - really, that would be crazy! And I can't see how internet sales, which are not based on looking at a physical copy of the book, would be affected by printing subtle age-guidance in the barcode box of a book. I do recognise that it's clearly a sensitive issue, and there are many valid questions that have been raised in the debate, but as publishers we are simply trying to find a way to make sure that adults buying books for children (or indeed currently not buying books for children) have all the help they need in doing so. Those lucky enough to have brilliant, insightful, widely read booksellers to advise them will find age-guidance irrelevant. Many others will, we hope, find it a useful additional piece of information to inform the choice they make.

03 Jun 08 09:05

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