Age categories - to include or not to include?

[Zoe Toft]

Hello all,
I've just had an interesting comment left on another site (http://britishmummybloggers.ning.com/) about my blog and would really appreciate your takes on it:

Do you include age categories for the books you review? What's your reasoning behind (not) including them?

I currently don't include them as I find that that the "official" guidance isn't relevant to my kids (eg my older one often loves baby books, or enjoys books - when they are read to her- that are aimed at much older kids, and likewise, my 1.5 year old will often gladly sit and listen to a book nominally aimed at a 4-8 year old if I'm reading it to her older sister). Indeed, in the UK there are was recently some author backlash about putting age categories on their books (http://www.notoagebanding.org/), although I understand that this is common practice in the US.

Would be great to hear your thoughts about all this!

Zoe
Playing by the book

[Mark Perkins]

I don't see any problem with giving an age category to book reviews, but I do see that most of the time, it puts some limits to the audience that may or may not really apply. You've given some excellent examples that illustrate the point. Normally, I'd say my wife's children's book "Ladybug Baby Bug" is for ages 1-3 years old, but as soon as I say that, I find older children enjoying it, as well (say in the 4-6 year old range. So, I guess what I'm saying is that instead of trying to limit the age category to a 3 year span or less, maybe it's more appropriate to have a wider range, just to be on the safe side.