Yes, how young is too young? Or how old is too old?

 In response to Nicole Peeler’s guest post on Richelle Mead’s goodreads blog.


I’ve been faced with the realization that people are constantly judging what others are reading. Either it's too young or too old for them. And some parents regulate what their child is reading, and if that is right for them than I support it. I actually really love this site and this post. I also agree there should be a universal rating on reading material. I have a friend, that we have a different rating for and she should be able to feel comfortable when she picks up a book.



If you’ll remember I didn’t like reading until I was eight due to a learning disability, dyslexia. When I finally did read, I was allowed to read whatever I wished to.


Mom only read romances, historical, contemporary, anything romance. So there were dozens lying around and she never discouraged me from reading them. I knew about sex from a very early age, so there really wasn’t any discovering it inside of books. I was commonly reading romance by the age of 10.


By the fifth grade, I was beyond Harlequin’s and wanted to read classics. I know I’m a weird kid. So I was reading Gone with Wind in class when Mr. R, who will always remain the dragon teacher (yes, I was and kinda am TERRIFIED of him), told me it was an unacceptable book for my age. I never did resume this book after that day.


Then again in sixth grade,  I was reading the unabridged version of Anne Frank, that my English professor aunt gave me for Christmas, and I was told to keep that book at home where it belonged. See this book had Anne exploring her own body with a description of what down there is like. Yes, I had to ask my sister, what a couple of the words meant, but this book taught me something I hadn’t known about my body and was too ashamed to ask.


I was pretty much left alone after that. I had great English teachers in junior high and high school. Mrs. V, coincidently Mr. R's best friend, bought books for her classroom especially for me. Mrs. S cultivated my love of writing, by standing there proudly and commending me on my writing while school administrators tried to fail me out of school. (I missed too many days while going to on a small press tour when I got published in 7th grade.)


Now I get the reverse questions, mainly from my husband. Why are reading books in the teen section? Does all of your reading material have to have sparkly vampires?


How about this, if you are comfortable with the reading material and are over the age of 13 or your parents say it’s appropriate than others don’t really have a say in your reading material.


Read proud.

Categories: Random