No war today, come back tomorrow.

So there was a meeting about the agebanding issue between Phil Pullman and several representatives of the publishers. From his description (which you will have read if you’d signed up, as it was sent out in an e-mail last night), it sounds like the publishers are basically frlipping their authors the bird in the politest no-we’re-totally-not-doing-it kind of way.

And Mugabe is not actually declaring war. This is a goodness.

But the most ultimate goodness of all is: I am reading the Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton. The last book in the series, and even though I have been warned that it’s one of the most blatant deus ex machina in human history, I am still adoring it.

Herewith my wishes:

• Something really horrible happens to Quinn Dexter. And I do mean horrible.
• Louise is okay.
• We see Fletcher again.
• Something really, really horrible happens to Quinn Dexter.

Age-Banding books and why it’s a bad idea.

I was seven when I started reading in my second language (that would be English). Within six months I had graduated from Heidi to the ancient Greeks. My parents didn’t have many children’s books, so I read what we had – which was a lot of books. My love of reading came from being allowed to read what I wanted, when I wanted, and being praised for it. (yes, I’m a praisewhore)

Alright, some of the books I found might have been inappropriate – but putting age-bands on books isn’t going to stop that.

My brother started reading for pleasure when he was seventeen – because the girl he liked was a reader. She’s his wife now. The first book she gave him to read was Only You Can Save Mankind, by Terry Pratchett. It’s a children’s book. Imagine his reaction if it had had a big band on it saying ‘11+’ or something similar. He’d never have read it!

I believe a lot of people have already said that putting age-bands on books will discourage children who are just beginning to read – couldn’t agree more!

A book is not written for a certain age, it’s written for a certain mind. My grandmother and I both adore Harry Potter. A lot of grown-ups like Harry Potter. A lot of children like it too. How are you going to age-band it?

Are Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets going to be 6+? And then you’d have to make Prisoner of Azkaban a 9+, of course. What about the later books, which become steadily darker? Deathly Hallows should be at least 13+ then.
But what about Yiorgos, who read the entire series in his tenth year? He’d never have started it, because the first two would be for ‘babies’ and the last lot would be for kids older than him.
Or are they going to band the entire series at one age?

The idea of agebanding is not only ridiculous, but counterproductive.

Go to http://www.notoagebanding.org/ to read what other people think.