Heather Finley

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/services/education/youthlit/readalert/index.php/2010/02/25/barnes-and-noble-age-branding/

www.commonsensemedia.org

          Sex, violence, kissing, gay relationships, angels, soda drinks…are things things that parents need to be aware that their kids are reading about?  Well according to Barnes and Noble, they seem to be.  Recently B&N online joined forces with Common Sense Media to provided ratings and information on books for children and young adults.

          My first reaction when reading about this company and their idea is that it made sense.   They are trying to provide parents with a way to know what is inside the books their children are reading.  I liked that the company mentioned that it is not aiming to censor but to inform.   In theory this is a good idea.

          However, when I started to actually read some of the reviews, I wasn’t completely sold on the description being a good idea.  They point out every single little thing that is in the book from what I can tell.  In many cases, these are completely out of context.   In the reviews I read, it seemed like the person writing the review was putting their own opinions in.  I feel like the reviews should be non objective.  For example, for the book LA Candy by Lauren Conrad, they are pointing out a character having one night stands and tell the parents to discuss with their kids what the real life consquences of this would be.  Couldn’t you just leave it that one character has sex with multiple partners in the book?

          Another thing that bothered me a lot was reading the review for City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.  They point out more than once that a character is gay.  First off, I think when reviewing a book it would be more appropriate to say something like same sex relationship.  Secondly, why on earth is this even something to point out?  I guess you could defend it being full disclosure on the book but still, that seems like pointing out non important things to me.   If you do put that in there, why are you not pointing out a well that there is a girl kissing a boy?  Same difference right?

          What got considered red flag material verses yellow also did not make a lot of sense to me.  Using the same two books as examples, LA Candy is given a red for having lots of references to consumer products like phones and food yet City of Glass gets a yellow for attempted rape, inscest, and tortured angels committing suicide.  Do those ratings seem off to anyone else?  I also thought it was weird how they censor some cuss words in the review but not others and even at times just call them four letter words. 

          Since the ratings were confusing me, I decided to look more at Common Sense Media’s website to figure out who exact was coming up with these.  It didn’t really give an answer.  It gave a long list of people and what their position was but didn’t tell anything about them.  Are they parents?  Are they teachers?  Are they a religious group?  I feel like more information should be provided about this group.

           Not being a parent, I guess I can’t entirely relate but I feel like if a parent is going to be so strict that they will not let their kid read something that this scale says is a red light or for a certain age, maybe they should consider reading the book.  It is possible to truly gage a book based on a bias review from a somewhat unknown source. 

          I think this is a step in the right direction when it comes to finding ways to deal with censorism.  It is a good alternative that if executed better, could work to help parents know what their children are reading.