[griffonwing]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

A "rating" doesn't necessarily mean a scaled number. A label of "this book contains lots of sex" is a rating.

I simply disagree

I don't want my kids reading books with overt monotheism in them, at least not without my discussing it with them first. Are you thinking they should warn for that?

I referred to the same fundamental blurbs in movie ratings. This is not one of them.

You don't mention violence. I want to know if there are violent
deaths on every other page. I *really* want to know if there's torture and mutilations, which are much more likely to cause long-term problems for my kids than sex scenes, which they won't understand and get lumped under "weird grownup stuff" in their minds.

Violence, yes. Unfortunately, I am partially preoccupied with personal family matters, so some things slipped. This is one of the mentions in movies, so yes.

How about racism? I don't want my kids reading The Turner Diaries anytime soon.

Instruction kits for bomb-making, religious propaganda, kooky diets designed to prey on the fears of the young, hate-filled rhetoric, How To Cheat guidebooks, suicide methods... I can think of plenty of things I want to steer my kids away from that aren't sex-and-drugs books.

Why should it have been apparent? I worry a lot more about my kids getting interested in alcohol than in pot. And I don't know what you include under "etc."

What about sci-fi books... should drugs that don't exist today be exempt from a drug warning? Is it the particular *drugs* that get a warning, or particular *types of use*?

That's not gratuitous; it's just prevalent. Gratuitous means unnecessary or excessive. If it's intrinsic to the plot, it's not gratuitous--but there can still be an awful lot of it.

What age "children" should not be exposed to these topics... and why don't you include violence in your list? At what age are they ready to read about decapitations but not copulations?

What do you think of books like Go Ask Alice? Should they not be available to children?

I think you lost me. You're only talking about tagging books that are specifically tagged Young Adult by their publishers? So, any books not so labeled, would be exempt?

I suspect it wouldn't matter much to me, then; my 10-year-old still reads some books marketed to YA, but my 13-year-old has discovered fantasy novels and is off & running.

I'm having trouble thinking of any marketed-as-YA books that you'd think would need these warnings. And I'm confused at the idea that any parent would expect their children to refrain from reading anything that wasn't tagged YA to start with.

Those Alice books? Never heard of them. And yes, for the repeated time, I was referring to those aimed at kids, specifically the YA sect.

This leaves out a majority of the books you listed above, bomb-making, racism, theologies, etc...

A majority of these are assumed in either the book name or the info on the back. Again these are not geared towards children, so these are excluded from an infobox.

And by Infobox, I refer you to this.

http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/vampiresya.htm

Here is a list of Vampire Young Adult Fiction. I, myself, loved the sword and sorcery books growing up, but never got into this style.. However, You can see at the end of each "about' paragraph, they have a "This Book Contains:" area.

This is all I request to be on the back of the books. Just an informative box, nothing more.