Age Appropriate Literature for Kids

14.05.10

So my 5 year old son is learning how to read and he is enjoying his new found freedom, of course my husband and I beam proudly as he tries to read any and every word he comes across. This young mind is like a little sponge that just soaks up every word that it comes across.

It's a beautiful thing...until I'm reading the paper and suddenly I hear him say 'B R I B E, that spells bribe. Mama what does bribe mean?' and on another occasion he says 'C O R R U P T, that spells corrupt. Mama what does corrupt mean?' And it suddenly dawns on me that just as we don't let him watch certain TV programmes, now that he will soon be able to read on his own it is just as important to make sure that he reads age appropriate literature.

Just because a book has illustrations does not mean that it is a suitable book for a child. It's very important to read through books or any form of literature to check that it's appropriate for your child. For example there have been times when my son has seen political satirist cartoons from Zapiro in the paper and asked lots of questions about some of the images he was seeing, many of which he is just not yet able to understand because it's just simply not targeted for his age.

One could argue that reading is not the same as watching and seeing images from TV for example, but kids already have hugely imaginative minds and like to create pictures in their minds, just hearing the words 'three-eyed- monster' or 'Khokho' sends their minds to many different places which create many images along the way.

Images can also be too busy for younger children from ages 0 to 3, the shorter and simpler for them, the better.

When buying books for your little ones you can find out which age category a specific book falls in from the bookshop staff (there is always someone who deals specifically with the children's section).Or better yet some book stores already have their books separated into various categories.

Publishers also generally have that information available on their website (under book details) or you could always call them directly. Lastly you can just have a quick read yourself before buying a book and access whether or not your child will be able to follow and understand the story relatively easily. T

he general categories to guide parents for children's books are:

Picture Books - 0 to 6yrs
Story Books - 6 to 8yrs
Confident Readers – 8 to 12yrs
Youth/Young Adult – 13 and up

So it's important to remember that just like with movies, ages restrictions are there for a reason.

Happy Reading!