by Risa Wolf

Created on: February 14, 2008   Last Updated: August 11, 2010

Parental guidelines (PG) for children's books exist right now. What purpose would even more PG labels serve? Look at the cover of any book for children in the United States; it already has a label by physical age. Children's books already use one-size-fits-all vocabularies-by-age. Labeling is censorship, no matter how presented. The main problem with all labeling is that these always small groups of self-appointed censors decide what is best for your child based on some nebulous "average" for a specific age. Every child is an individual. Nobody knows better than you, the parent, what books are appropriate for your child.

Physical age is not the same as mental age:

How can these self-appointed censors know your child's mental age? Authors of books for children are required to use restricted vocabularies according to age-levels. Lists of what words to use for ages X, Y, and Z can be found in Alijandra Mogilner's, Children's Writer's Word Book. The book, states the publisher's blurb, "include[s]: lists of specific words introduced at each of seven reading levels...." Authors must change a word if the lists state it is meant for level 4 in a book meant for level 2. But, what if your five year old is ready for a level 4 vocabulary? The days when a child could read any book in the children's section of the library are gone. Your little one will not be allowed to take out that level 4 book.

Children's books that have already been censored:

Fairy tales are on this list of censored books. While it is doubtful that any parent today would want to read the original grim (and sadistic) Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm to their child, there is no reason to place the stories of Hans Christian Andersen on the list. Yet, Anderson's tales are condemned for putting foolish ideas into children's little heads. Fairy tales are not foolish; they serve a very important purpose for a child. They allow small children to vicariously face situations they fear: What if my parents die? What if I get lost? Fairy tales teach resourcefulness; they teach a child what is meant by bravery, loyalty, constancy, and honor.

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are condemned by some Christian leaders as teaching children about forbidden topics, such as, magic and wizardry. For a change, the always small groups who condemn certain books have been over-ridden by the reading public. Rowling's books have made readers out of far more children than any book labeled for children by-age.

We could one day find the books of Theodore Seuss Geisel labeled. Geisel uses fantastic animals and amusing caricatures to illustrate his stories and to support the printed words. His odd rhymes awaken a child's sense of play and wonder. He invents sonorous words for children to roll around in their mouths for the sheer joy of it. Children love Dr. Seuss books. It is not far-fetched to foresee the guardians of the one-size-fits-all vocabularies-by-age, labeling Dr. Seuss books for inappropriate content: polysyllabic words.

Movies do need PG labels; the explicitly visual needs no imagination. It is simply there and brooks no alternative interpretation. The explicitly visual is utterly alien to the mentally visual each child creates in his or her own mind when reading a book, no matter what age.

Ratings for books for teenagers are self-defeating; teenagers will read a book they would have ignored if it were not rated PG. The labels we have on books written for small children already are too restrictive. There is neither need nor value in more Parental Guidance labels. We could find too many wonder-waking books removed from childhood's realm for inappropriate content.

Sources:

Alijandra Mogilner's, Children's Writer's Word Book.

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