*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

[leora.livejournal.com]

From the term cognitive and the example, I think the person means that this is a 13 year old of roughly average abilities, and she is concerned about the reading level of the writing and concepts contained. Not a matter of censoring content, (for things like sex, drugs, etc.) so much as making sure the child will be able to understand and enjoy the story.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Is there an appropriate chronological age? I mean maybe she's not ready for Lolita or Lady Chatterly's Lover, but at 13 I was reading what was considered advanced for my age. Of course, now, I read YA. I don't think you can say...okay 13 year olds read x and y. Judy Blume might bore her or excite her. Jane Eyre might catch her imagination or put her to sleep.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I was miles beyond what I was "supposed" to be reading at that age. If the girl is smart, she can tackle Shakespeare, but I know some high school junior and seniors who would have trouble with it. Hell, there's an English major in my Shakespeare class this semester who has trouble with it.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Even within that parameter there is genre to consider. My boys are less than two years apart and yet they wanted very different books. One was into Goosebumps while the other was into Jules Verne. It's just too variable to not narrow it down a little.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with that. But I get the feeling that the problem is the writer doesn't know the child or the child's reading tastes well enough. But the problem isn't the term "age appropriate", it's just that picking reading matter is a bit individual.

The last time I was trying to find a good book for a child, it was a child around age 9, and even walking through a library and discussing what she was looking for, it took several tries. Some of my suggestions she had already read, some she wasn't interested in, but we found something. :) Plus, apparently pleased a librarian to see people who are knowledgeable about children's books, clearly enjoy them, and are able to help a child pick a good book.

[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.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Yes, I found gift certificates stuffed in Christmas stockings to be the ideal compromise. Now my 21 year old is into the mange (manga, but I give him crap about it) and the 20 year old is really varied in what he will read.

[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.

[conuly]

For all that, she might be better off with a decent magazine subscription, but even then - what is she interested in?

[conuly]

But there's no average 13 year old. (And at any rate, once I'd already asked "what on earth do you mean by that", the answer isn't "I mean the same exact thing I already told you, just with bigger words")

[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]

True, but the US has well-defined reading levels for what the expected reading ability of a 13 year old is. I think it's a large part bunk, but that is more or less what was meant.

You asked along which axis the age-appropriateness was intended to apply (i.e. sex, magic, etc.) and you received an answer - cognitive ability. I do feel that her answer conveyed enough information to know what she meant. I just think what she meant is a not enough information to pick a good book for a child, but that's a separate issue.

[conuly]

I agree with you on the latter part (but you knew that) if not the former - I certainly still have no idea what she meant. But there's no profit in arguing this for the rest of our lives.

[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.

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I wrote a post all about some of my faves, and LJ ATE it. Perhaps that is a closed community (I am too pissed right now to go look), but I didn't get the usual "You may not post" rejection. I got NOTHING but a refresh of the page without my comment on it. Grrr.

[literalgirl.livejournal.com]

Nice. And I chose my NBC Gate icon for that comment I just posted, and got the smiley icon instead. WTF, LJ? :-(

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Plus, apparently pleased a librarian to see people who are knowledgeable about children's books, clearly enjoy them, and are able to help a child pick a good book.

I still have fun doing informal Reader's Advisory. :)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Is the trouble based on vocabulary? o.0

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Only by offering a wide assortment of options.

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

I guess so. I honestly don't know what her problem is. I don't think she's reading it closely enough, because she'll pull something out of the words that is completely different from what everyone else (students, professor, and the person who wrote the footnotes) comes up with.

And for the last two weeks she's been driving me crazy by saying "Anthony" instead of "Antony". *facepalm*

[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.