*eyeroll*

[conuly]

If I ask you "what does age-appropriate mean", please don't respond by saying "the right level for her actual age". See, if I knew what you considered to be "the right level for her age", I wouldn't have asked that question in the first place!

Edit: If you're curious, I'm mostly miffed because (mihi) she didn't answer my question so much as rephrase her original statement - but if I'd known what her original statement meant to begin with, I would not have had to ask the question. I usually don't ask leading questions like that just for fun.

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Made sense to me. Was looking for a book for a 13 year old. Not a 'gifted' 13 year old or sensitive one or religious one or with poor reading skills, just what is the average 13 year old reading? What would they have in the library in the young adults section?

Seemed like a straightforward request.

[conuly]

There *is* no average 13 year old, not when it comes to reading. My reading at that age ranged all the way from Goosebumps to Shakespeare. Some people at that age, average people, are reading dystopias, others at that age, average people, are still reading Judy Blume. It's not a straightforward request, it's a maddeningly vague request.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Schools, magazines, reading lists, libraries manage to do that all the time, though.

[conuly]

Not very well. In fact, they do it rather poorly, in my experience. You have an English class, and all the students, despite being the same age and having similar experiences, are torn on how well they can read whatever it is you're reading - it's far too hard for some of them, far too easy for others, boring for a lot of them.

[conuly]

(And that, it should be noted, lasts way up through college. Pain in the expletive profanity)

Honestly, you might as well ask "what's a good book for a 20 year old". Except you wouldn't, because people don't assume that adults are all at the same reading level, or have the same interests, or even like the same style of writing.

Look at the range of answers that person has gotten! They go all the way from The Giver (required reading in many 5th and 6th grade classes) to heavy-duty books like 1984 and Lord of the Flies.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Enh, it works variably. My mother managed to buy a dress for me that I really like by going to a store and asking a salesperson what would be a good dress for a 20 year old who needs to go to a Bat Mitzvah.

Sure, that won't work in many cases, but people do things like that all the time. And I wouldn't go oO if someone asked, "What would be a good book for a 20 year old?" but I would ask if they knew anything about the person.

One of the most frequent recurring questions in advice is - what would be a good gift for my boy/girlfriend, because I want to show him/her I really love her.

The answer, of course, is something you pick because of who that person is - yet people ask the question regularly.

[conuly]

*stares*

Methinks the people who ask that question really need to have a good chat with their boyfriend/girlfriend.

[leora.livejournal.com]

They're usually young and worried about whether they're doing the relationship thing "right". If they're older - then yes, they definitely do. But I understand feeling insecure and thinking maybe those with more experience will have advice and guidance. But it is amusing that it is a regular question that many different people ask.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

I'm always amused by that question in the crafting communities. Everyone suggests a "memory box" for the boyfriend in question (it's always for a boyfriend, I don't know why).

To this day, I have never met a straight man who wanted a memory box from their girlfriend. Lingerie, preferably occupied, yes. Memory box? Not so much.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Only by offering a wide assortment of options.