Age Appropriate Books for Kids

On Monday, I attended a Jane Yolen talk. She is my heroine, with more than 300 books published for children and teens. I was impressed with the way she spoke to each child lined up to have a book signed. She asked their age, and if in elementary school, yet held out a YA for her to sign, Jane would say the book was not meant for her age, but that she'd sign it if she promised not to read it until she was twelve years old.

It reminded me of our younger son who was an avid reader. By the time he was ten, he was reading each Michael Crichton book as it came out. I felt awful that I couldn't keep up with him. One day I said to him, "Honey, I'm sorry. I don't have the time to read as much nor as fast as you, I can't read the books you've picked out ahead of time." "Oh, that's all right, Mom," he answered. "Some parts would be inappropriate for you to read."