Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

Each and every reader reads differently. Different books are appropriate for different people, but that's not only or solely based on age, but on intelligence, interest, and so much more. I posted about this at length at the start of the year.

http://slayground.livejournal.com/158677.html

Parents will love it, of course, even if the ages end up wrong. Age guides are tricky, especially since different publishers may decide to put the same book under different age groups. Just reading book reviews, I'll often find one book for ages 9-12 and then a different review source will say ages 12-14. Who do I believe? Sometimes I look at the cover first to see who they marketed it for (which I am sure will also influence the ages put on the book. If the publisher thinks YA sells more, they might try push the ages "up" just for marketing). Myself and the YA librarian often trade books between our sections after reading them because they aren't appropriate...and we were depending on the reviews to give us direction!

So is it a good idea? Not really. Is it going to happen anyway? Yep. That's why you need good librarians or booksellers who have actually read the books to properly guide the right kid to the right book.