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The classification of teenage titles is to be changed by the Book Industry Communication (BIC) review committee following the introduction of more controversial subject matter into teen fiction.
Howard Willows, chair of the BIC subject category review committee, said that children’s publishers wanted to distinguish between material aimed at younger teenagers and books with older content such as sex, drugs and swearing.
All fiction for readers aged 12-plus is classified by BIC subject codes as “young adult”. Willows said: “That phrase can also now infer not just material for a certain age but a material of a certain kind.”
The classification of fiction for children aged 12-plus will revert to the “neutral” term “teenage”, said Willows, with separate coding available for books with content aimed at older readers.
"It is a little like introducing film classifications into books. Publishers of graphic novels already do this by sealing graphic novels with adult content. Now if publishers want to warn about content that may upset teenagers, then they can do so."
Popular teenage series such as Robert Muchamore’s Cherub books (Hodder Children’s Books), which include sex, drinking and swearing, indicate how much teen content has changed in the last few years. Muchamore’s most recent title, Shadow Wave, sold more than 9,600 copies (Nielsen Bookscan) in its first three days of publication this summer.
The changes to teenage categorisation form part of a review of BIC subject categories that will be introduced later this year.