Books you would NOT SUGGEST to your kids. Why? At what age would you recommend it?

Hm, I don't have children so I don't know how it feels to worry about what my kid reads. From my point of perspective I would allow a kid to read what it wants. There comes a time in life when the children books aren't fulfilling any more. At least not all the time.
When I was around 10 or 11 my father allowed me to come with him into the adults section and I was allowed to choose books on his name. The first book I lent was Stephen Kings "It". It took me almost five weeks to read it completely but I loved it and afterwards started spending my pocket money on his books. For me it was an opening into a new world and from there on we went to the library every four weeks to lend books and I never went back to the children books. Never did my dad restrict me from certain books and he knew I was browsing the horror section like an addict.

Daddy even read some of my choices after I told him how good they were.

I don't believe in restrictions at all. I might think differently with a sensible child but wouldn't stop it from reading what it desires. You can't protect a child from todays choice of wording in school or where ever. Parents are there to educate their kids about the ways of appropiate choice of wording. A kid educated by responsible parents won' t drip into bad language because it read about "damn, shit and bitches".

Just my opinion and experience from working with children for over ten years.

I wouldn't recommend the Flowers in the Attic series to children. I know they're about children, but I thought they were revolting. I never understood the reaction of the person who lent them to me, who said, "they're soooo sad." Struck me as a lot worse than just sad.

Champagne said:

I wouldn't recommend the Flowers in the Attic series to children. I know they're about children, but I thought they were revolting. I never understood the reaction of the person who lent them to me, who said, "they're soooo sad." Struck me as a lot worse than just sad.

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Revolting is right. Her later work was more soap opera-ish, nothing as bad as Flowers in the Attic.

Forgive me for saying this, but it is a bit interesting/amusing to be reading this, being a teen who was a kid not too long ago. My parents tried to get me to read "classics" but by age 12 I was a voracious reader of basically all children's literature and they sort of gave up on knowing what I was reading.

HermioneWeasley said:

Forgive me for saying this, but it is a bit interesting/amusing to be reading this, being a teen who was a kid not too long ago. My parents tried to get me to read "classics" but by age 12 I was a voracious reader of basically all children's literature and they sort of gave up on knowing what I was reading.

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That plays a part too..I have too many kids who read voraciously for me to obsess too much over what they might bring home. For the underage ones, I'm usually the one who drives them to the library, and I'm usually standing right beside them when they checkout, so I have a chance to at least get a glimpse of their choices. I rarely have any reason to be concerned whatsoever. Even the teen who checked out books on weapons, and asked me to help him research Greek Fire, had his reasons...and they didn't include blowing up his school:lol:

We all learn from books. Plato, Aristotle, Aesop and we all share ideas through this written form of communication called books.

And I understand your point when you say, "I read this book with lots of violence and other indulgences. I turned out all right." Yes, I agree. I believe almost all of us did read such books. I also like to state that many readers turned out 'acceptable' because I believe people or children who read books are usually more sound than ones who just watch TV all day or have parents who are too busy to be concerned with what their children are listening or what video games they are playing.

But I believe times have changed. Back in the days when we were growing up, there was nothing wrong with watching TV. There was Beaver, Wally, and Mother at home, teaching right and wrong at home sweet home. Now, it is no longer. Most of us have two-income family, who are tired after work to have a family reading time. And TV is not helping us much at all. With media pushing the envelope with sex and violence, it seems we are inured to it day by day. The books itself is a type of media, that are written by these people who are, (still slightly at least), affected by the changing society. Yes, there are many good ideas coming out, but some are not.

For example: Magic Tree House Book 1 - Dinosausrs Before Dark. (Beginners Chapter Book aimed for Grade 1 to 3)
Page 34; "... But Annie had disappeared. "I'm going to kill her," Jack muttered. He stuffed the gold medallion into his jeans pocket..."
This is what Jack says to himself when he called his sister, but she ignores him and keeps on going to a spot where her interest lies.

In todays' times, with school shootings occurring several times a year, even a second or third grader stating something so simple as "I'm going to kill _____." is no longer appropriate. We've all said it when we're growing up. But, society has changed, our kids have not - and kids are still kids - reading things they like repetatively and thereby soaking it into their malleable minds.

Even the author of the book, Mary Pope Osborne, hinted about having such statements are inappropriate in an interview, and while she has the same statement made by Jack in her Magic Tree House Book 2, she no longer uses the statement in (either) Book 3 (or Book 4) and up.

All I am trying to do here is to be a better consumer. I buy games that are appropriate for their age, limit the choices in what my kids and I watch. Even as we discuss this, there will be age guidance labels for kids from next year.

As I started this thread, I did write, my kids can read it, (my son loves Magic Tree House, from 1 to 34 and I read with them) and I will explain to them that such a statements are inappropriate. As my children grow I am reading longer books with them. And there are literally thousands of books.

To clarify my intentions, let me add: I'm looking to find appropriate age to introduce books to my children, by looking to see what other members have to say about a book.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is assuming I have children, which I don't.

I would tell them it's just too damn boring.

Of course, if they insisted, I would say "Well, it's your funeral."

Books you would NOT SUGGEST to your kids. Why? At what age would you recommend it?

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All erotica.
This week, my boyfriend and I were packing up all of our books. We were talking about getting new bookshelves and I mentioned that I liked his mother's. She has one where, in the center, there is a glass part that you can lock up and that's something I would want for my erotica so that the [hypothetical] kids can't get into it.
I decided that they will not be allowed to read it until they're 18.

Libra6Poe said:

All erotica.
This week, my boyfriend and I were packing up all of our books. We were talking about getting new bookshelves and I mentioned that I liked his mother's. She has one where, in the center, there is a glass part that you can lock up and that's something I would want for my erotica so that the [hypothetical] kids can't get into it.
I decided that they will not be allowed to read it until they're 18.

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You could just lock your dirty, dirty books in a footlocker under the bed. :whistling:

Nepenthe said:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is assuming I have children, which I don't.

I would tell them it's just too damn boring.

Of course, if they insisted, I would say "Well, it's your funeral."

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With all joking aside, I would probably let my children read what they wished, as long as they were capable of understanding the content and context. Of course,
teaching them to comprehend these things would be part of my job as a parent.

sparkchaser said:

You could just lock your dirty, dirty books in a footlocker under the bed. :whistling:

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That's most likely what will happen.

Harry Potter. I'd rather have my child reading something that's good. Of course I say this as someone who is currently (and will hopefully remain) child-free.

My kids are never reading the Necronomicon until they're 18 and out of the house. Last thing I need is to come home from work and find Dagon and some Deep Ones in my pool. Do you have any idea how hard it is clean scales and black slime out of the filter?

I wouldn't suggest Lord of the Flies, The Butterfly Revolution, and The Chocolate War. It was mandatory reading criteria when I was real young, but I like to think I was very mature and well established as not being a potential vindictive, manipulative lil twit. SO I'd say I would let them read this when they are at least 12 years old, or express sufficient maturity to understand that that is NOT how they are supposed to behave in this world to get what you want:whistling: However, I would never be that kind of parent who is never around, therefore allowing books and TV to raise my child/ren, so I would never tell them they COULDN'T read something, I would just make sure to talk about it afterwards with them.

I too, am childless, and I think if it ever came down to it, I would just be happy knowing they DO read:whistling::lol:

more scary stories to tell in the dark the most grusome gorey gutwrenching 90 page book ever. my son read it and had nightmares for years...................................

This is an interesting topic. I'm glad to see that most people are simply taking an interest in their reading, and not considerably censoring anything with the word "damn" in it.

I read a lot of books as a kid, and at the top of my head, I remember glancing through a lot of my mother's Danielle Steel novels and being sufficiently shocked. Not that I'm worse off for it, but I wish my mother would have given me some warning as an 11-year-old girl.

Summer Sisters is another - I think that's by Judy Blume. A lot of the topics in it were not something I fully understood, so I was really annoyed by it and judged it because of that. I think if I had put it off until I was a freshman or older, I would appreciate it more.

The children's book I did NOT like (that most people DO like) is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

That book should be renamed: The Selfish-Leech & the Doormat-Martyr.

I'm only 14 and won't have a child for YEARS. I think it depends on the child. If your child gets scared easily, don't give them a scary book. If you child is immature and is likely to go tell all his friend's the bad word that he found in a book, don't give it to him. Some of the books that I read when I was 8, I think I'd wait to give to my kids until they were about 12. I think if I hadn't read the book already, I'd go by the reading level on the back and alter it for my particular child. If it says 12 years and older and my kid was a very mature 9 year old, I'd give it to him. I know a lot of people won't agree with me, but I think the reading level guide on the back of books are handy.