No to Age Banding on Childrens Books

No to Age Banding on Children's Books
Several major book publishers in the UK plan to introduce colour coded age banding to children's books later this year. The Publishers' Association's Children's Books Group claim that research shows that 86% of book buyers welcome the idea of age guidance and 40% say they are more likely to buy books featuring age guidance.
The categories which would appear on books are:
" five plus
" seven plus
" eleven plus
" thirteen plus/teen.
Newly published books are expected to include them from Autumn this year and some reprints of children's books are already displaying them.
Experts in the field of Children's Literature have reacted strongly to the proposal to age band. When Philip Pulman was informed of the plans by his publishers he told them he would not allow age-banding to appear on his books. His publishers took his opinions on board, but Pulman fears that many other writers will not express their dissent as age-banding has been presented to them as if it were a fait accompli. Some authors haven't been consulted at all.
Philip Pulman, Anne Fine and Adele Geras have composed a statement opposing the age banding scheme as 'ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers and highly unlikely ..." This statement has been published on a website which encourages people to make public their opposition by signing a petition and voicing their reasons for doing so. The list includes not only published authors but parents, librarians, booksellers and educationalists.
Neil Gamain indicates that he believes the move has come about because in the UK more and more books are being sold through supermarkets and age-banding makes life easy for shelf-stackers.
Whether this is the reason or not, and I suspect he may be right, I personally feel very strongly against age-banding, so I've put my name to the list. As a children's writer, I don't want my readership to be marginalised by an age band, but my motives are not purely selfish. Children should have the right to choose for themselves what they want to read and at what level they are able to read.
My son had the same graded reading book for months in his schoolbag, until I pointed out the fact to his teacher and indicated that he didn't seem to want to read it. His teacher suggested my son chose his own reading books from a collection of books which weren't scheme graded. Now he can't wait to or to show me the book he's brought home from school. He's also going to the library and bookshops and choosing similar books. Although he's dyslexic he's quite capable of discovering for himself what he can and can't manage. I'd hate to think he was put off a book because a label said he was too young to read it.
Dorothy Massey is the author of Better English published by Studymates and the Ghost Twin Tales: Mini Mysteries and Kooky Spookies, a Pinestein Press publication. An expert in literacy for adults and children, she writes quality educational materials and children's fiction. To find out more about Dorothy and writing for children in the UK, visit Dorothy's blog: http://www.kidsbooksuk.blogspot.com