Does Grouping By Age Make The Library A More User Friendly Place? Essay

Type of Book: nonfiction, I think people my age would read these types of books even though I typically don’t read these types of books, I really did enjoy this book.

Various novels can be classified as “coming-of-age” texts, this means that these are stories about a protagonist’s transition from childhood to adulthood or just growing up even as an adult. These novels show their growth and change in character over the length of the text. Novels such as The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston are all examples of coming-of-age novels. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God the story is focused on Janie Crawford and her growth over the course of the book.

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

The whole debate started when the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial written by Meghan Cox Gurdon where she described what she saw as a disturbing trend towards ‘darkness’ in young adult literature (Is Current). The article had a major backlash on Gurdon when people started to disagree and argue her statements, such as Maureen Johnson, author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes, who went to twitter to start the #YASaves (Young Adult) hashtag and getting thousands of replies within hours (Springen). Some people agreed with her statement, some of those people think that books should be banned from libraries so that their kids won’t read those books (Parents Challenge) Since the article, there have been many debates on the matter of books being appropriate for teen readers. I believe that young adult literature is not getting too dark for teen readers because the books help them face problems in their own lives, they make teens more aware of loss, and the stories show them that they are not alone in the issues they

Genres are classifications of literature, easily distinguished by content. Young adult literature is very popular and commonly read by teens. The novel Live To Tell by Lisa Harrington is classified as young adult fiction because it contains intense subject matter, and language and contemporary issues teens can relate to.

Another reason as to why I believe The Catcher in the Rye should be available to all students above elementary school is because censoring it would be ignoring the first amendment rights of free speech. “If librarians caved into every demand to remove materials from their collections, they would not have much left to put on the shelves. Only materials that offended no one would be spared. Such a situation might appeal to some people, but it would not serve the needs of our democracy or satisfy the constitutional requirements for free speech.” (Steffens). Including a diverse selection of books in a library or school setting would be the promotion of free speech and a diverse selection of opinions and views. However, if books keep getting censored and removed, that would be ignoring the first amendment and almost all opinion-based materials would be gone. Secondly, “As agents of the government, libraries are bound by the Constitution to promote free speech and diversity of opinion.” (Steffens).

Now if you have pre teens or teenagers. The diary of the wimpy kid By: Jeff Kinney is a great series for the more experienced young reader. As well as The Percy Jackson series By: Rick Riordon. I personally have read these books as well. They are very entertaining and fun to

When certain books are given to the right age groups, then some situations won’t be so cruel. Such as “In 2006, some parents in a Kansas school district decided that talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural; passages about the spider dying were also criticized as being ‘inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book’” wouldn’t be such a big deal if the children were old enough to understand that the talking animals were not real and the spider dying is simply a part of life. (15 Books Banned For The Most Absurd Reasons Ever.) Also, children should be given the opportunity to read books that are about or from the perspective of children the same age. Even though some books may have a negative effect towards the readers, most books that teenagers read are about the same difficulties that lots of teenagers go through. Therefore, children can learn ways to deal with the conflicts they have in their lives. (Banned Books Week 2015)

The School Library System chose 16 titles for elementary (gr. 3-6) and 16 titles for secondary (gr. 7-12) students, which included graphic novels, non-fiction, mystery,

The book I am reading is Wings of Fire: Legends: Darkstalker the author is Tui T Sutherland and the genre is fantasy. The number of pages in this book are 358 and the recommended reading age is 7-12, it is rated this because it has a lot killing in it.

Anthem and The Maze Runner are both dystopian society based books that teens like to read because they can relate to them and they like how twisted they are.

When someone is born they do not get to choose their families. They are just born with two loving parents or maybe just a single person. When she or he reaches age sixteen they are just considered teens and not much is paid attention to it. In the book Divergent, Veronica Roth puts a new meaning to the age of young teens. They get to choose a fraction, and that fraction will stay with them for the rest of their life. A fraction in this book means a colony, a place where they think best suits them according to their characters and actions, also a test helps decide how to choose. Life seems to be more fascinating in Divergent. Veronica Roth the creator of Divergent fascinates the readers in creating a world

In a standard coming of age novel, the protagonist is usually in their adolescent to early adulthood years.

It’s a ‘young adult’ sci-fi trilogy that follows the story of the survivors in a world that has been devastated by waves of a destructive alien invasion. These aliens aren’t the green and gooey kind – they look just like us. This story is about humanity and the choices we make when we need to survive. Does this sound like a story for children? Well, it certainly does not to me. It has many of the characteristics of a young adult novel alongside the heavy themes of friendship, family and morality in this tale of futile survival, issues that adults face, too. Do you truly believe the teenagers of today should not read these books?

What are age groups and how do they help the library? An age group is defined as a number or people or things that are the same age. The concept of age groups help librarians around the world by helping them identify books and movies that are appropriate for certain age groups. Common Sense Media is a website that helps everyone in the world do just that whether they are a librarian or not. This website not only helps find books and movies, they also help find games, websites, music, apps, and TV shows and direct you to the age groups that they and other people think is appropriate for different age groups. On this website, it seems that the movies and the books that the movies are based off have different age group assignments. There is also the problem that they rate some books of the same exact series differently. I believe that the books that are in the same exact series and the movies based on the books in those series should be put in the exact same age group as the first book in that series.