This week, BTT asks: "What do you think of censoring books BECAUSE of their intended age? Say, books too “old” for your kids to read?"Guess I should have seen this one coming, after last week's topic. And it's a good (and thorny) question.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, I suppose), I don't have to worry about the problem, since I don't have children. I really don't believe in banning reading of any kind for any age group, but that's a theoretical opinion that I've never had to test in a real-world sort of situation.
I do think parents and teachers need to monitor the books young children read, just as they should screen movie and TV-viewing choices, internet browsing, computer and video games, etc. But for older kids -- say middle school age and beyond -- I'm not sure censoring does much good. You can recommend and caution, but ultimately if a kid wants to read something (what a thought!), he/she will most likely go right ahead and read it, with or without parental approval. And I suspect that if a book is too advanced for them, they'll probably get bored with it before it does them any damage.
