Book Ratings System

[whaleswiththumbs]

I am in the middle of writing an article for another website(evil me). and the thought cam to mind "Do books have a rating system?"

I'm not refering to a quality rating system, but to a content ratings system. To me it seems that books are the only media without a system in place. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, so we can move on to better placed discussions. And for the most part I'm talking about American systems. I do realize other countries have different(if possibly MORE) systems in place, and that most are pretty much cut the same way, just different names. And that if it a R rated here, it could be some N/17-thing in say, Canada.

Films(again, for the most part American) have a system, G_PG_PG-13_R etc. Games have ratings, TV has a rating. even comics have a rating. But I've never been aware of a system for the ratings of Books.

I think a system should be put in place, if there isn't one already. As an avid reader, I've picked up books with innocent titles, flipped in a few pages and gotten, to put it lightly, graphic things.

For those who may say something like "Well, if you old enough to read, you should be aware blah blah blah.." I've been able to read since ever since i can remember(a pretty good length of time, as I rec-o-llect) and i remember being taking those tests in elementary school that graded your reading level, and i remember it saying i could read post-grad books when i was in 3rd grade(not stoking my ego, just saying)

And for otehrs who may say "Well, there too young" or something about not everyone on the same level as me, or you, or the holy-lord, or buddha, or your dog's shite pile in the back yard. That's not what's important, if we took that attitude towards other mediums WITH reviews/ratings, then we wouldn't need them.

I'm not saying some obtrusive, knock-down-the-door-if-your-doing-wrong system, Just a passive, on the inside cover of the book square with the rating, maybe a small explanation of why. That way nobody ever picks up a book and has to be genuinely surprised by what's inside

[small] I think this is horribly written, but i'm very tired, and i hope you get my point[/small]

 

[no oneder]

Yes (comma) it's called the ISBN.

 

[Meggiepants]

Teen books sometimes do. Manga does. But most books don't.

I suspect there are several reasons for this. Books are older than visual media such as movies or audio media such as recorded music. They've been around so long, for us to retroactively rate them would be quite the task.

Also, you need to be able to read to grasp the content of books. Movies and Music don't require this. People often factor this into the idea of rating things. Visual media require no translation. If there is sex on the screen, it's obvious. One can access that sexual scene by watching something that is only 2 hours long or so. A four year old can see the sex, whereas they could probably not read the book with the sex. You might have to read hundreds of pages to find the juicy bits, so to speak.

Children's and Teen materials are carefully selected by librarians with the audience in mind. Although no hard and fast rating system exists, teen and children book review sources have age suggestions with each review. It is our job to select items we felt appeal to the appropriate age group, as well as whether or not the content is appropriate. So although there is not an official rating system, if you go to a library you can be relatively certain there won't be items in the children's or teen's section that contain graphic sexual content. Violence and language tend to be based more on local community standards and it caries from library to library.

Perhaps you should start your own rating system if you feel the need. The music, movie and game rating agencies only have credibility because we give them credibility. They are voluntary ratings systems and have no authority beyond what we give them.

But be prepared for a lot of work. The U.S. alone publishes around 200,000 books a year. That's almost 550 books a day. So you better start now.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

-snip=

Good points, (you see how i completely forgot about music "ratings".

I'm not really sure what to say other than that. Although in my line of thinking i was more in the book store approach.. Maybe they should just have some form of in-store way to find out if anything "adult" r otherwise is in the book. Just so I'm not nicely reading along and a sex scene pops up.

 

[Meggiepants]

-snip=

Good points, (you see how i completely forgot about music "ratings".

I'm not really sure what to say other than that. Although in my line of thinking i was more in the book store approach.. Maybe they should just have some form of in-store way to find out if anything "adult" r otherwise is in the book. Just so I'm not nicely reading along and a sex scene pops up.

I've edited my original response a bit with some more information that might answer your question.

Perhaps you should start your own rating system if you feel the need. The music, movie and game rating agencies only have credibility because we give them credibility. They are voluntary ratings systems and have no authority beyond what we give them.

But be prepared for a lot of work. The U.S. alone publishes around 200,000 books a year. That's almost 550 books a day. So you better start now.

This is probably one of the biggest reasons it isn't done. If this many movies or CDs were produced a year, it's likely the ratings system wouldn't exist for them either.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

-snip-

See, now i have to do it..... thanks...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

There are plans to bring in a Books rating system in the UK and I'm very much against it.

How many kids would be blocked from reading Harry Potter, The Phantom Tollbooth, Goosebumps just from the daft ratings that would be put on these books?

Let's see : The Hobbit: Contains Alcohol and Tobacco references, Scenes of Violent Death, Mild Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Cruelty to Animals, Strong Religious References. That marks that as PG-13/R at least.

How about simply reading the book and deciding whether or not your kid can read it?

 

[David Bray]

Germany publishes with a load of the reading ages on the back and a really refined genre system. Puts the rest to shame.