From: Ryan, Pat <PRyan>
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 12:55:50 -0700

Two responses to the age appropriateness question: When I was in second or third grade reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books, for example, or even Charlotte's Web, I just didn't register some things that I did notice when rereading the books as an adult.

And today's children are already exposed to so much more than children used to be. They see more graphic things on the news, and just in regular television, movies and video games, than previous generations ever did.

Patricia Ryan Children's Librarian Union City Library
(510) 745-1464 ext. 19
 

[snip]



On another topic, someone wondered about age appropriateness of these later books. I started to wonder about elementary appropriateness with book 4. That graveyard scene is quite graphic. But in the end, I've concluded that any elementary student who has read the previous books deserves to keep reading. I talk to children about what they have read, and if they have a grasp of what happened in the previous book, and some predictions about what might happen in the next, I don't think we should be putting up barriers. If they haven't read the others to that point, I do my best to convince them to back up.

Bridget Hill Hintgen Elementary School La Crosse, WI
Received on Thu 09 Aug 2007 02:55:50 PM CDT