what is the minimum age when childrens' books can contain swearing, in your opinion?

Question

i'm not a writer, but looking through children's books there are books for older teenagers with damn as the rudest word, and books for 12-year-olds where they're saying every cuss in the dictionary. it just seems a bit odd. are there guidelines set by editors - 'your target audience is thirteen, and this is as rude as you can be' - or something? what do you reckon should be the limits? thanks in advance for answering

Answer 1

I would give up on the modern authors and concentrate on old books for kids that age. It's time they learned of their heritage anyway, and you might go so far as to explain why you are now moving to older books for them. It is a sad fact that if you would depict modern kids as they really are, their speech would mostly turn to asterisks on Yahoo! Answers.

Your kids may say the older books about children are too corny, but you can afford to give them books about adults from long enough ago that it was simply good manners not to say things too bluntly. They've all seen the movies of Pride & Prejudice, and Sense & Sensibility at least; have heard of some others.

There's plenty of action and adventure in the likes of Treasure Island or The Three Muskateers, there's plenty of mystery in Arthur Conan Doyle's works, and even science fiction in H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Answer 2

12

Answer 3

"On My Honor," by Marion Dane Bauer, is a Yearling Newberry book which contains "hell" and "damn," and is targeted for the 9-12 age group.

I remember reading this aloud in turns in the fourth grade, and all of the boys trying to strategically plot ahead to get to be the ones to say the swears.

Of course, it makes the banned book lists rather frequently.

"To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee, contains "damn" and "whore lady," and has been banned before as well. We read that one in the ninth grade, I believe.

Personally, I started reading Stephen King and John Grisham when I was about eight or nine, and managed to develop quite the colorful vocabulary because of it.

With that said, I'll refer only to books one might encounter in school, due to the fact that it's the place they'd most likely cause trouble.

I'm not saying it's right, but if they followed the American movie rating system... G, PG, PG-13 and R... or the TV rating system... Y, Y-7, or however those go (I don't often watch TV) it might make things a bit more clear-cut and easier for parents to understand... especially those who sit in front of the TV all day and haven't picked up a book since their senior year of high school.

I still maintain, however, that everything I needed to know in life I learned from reading banned books. :)

Answer 4

I read the Adventures of Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn when I was about 11-12. Those books are notorious for their use of "the n word". Yet when I read them, I had no clue what the word was--I thought it was just a word used back in Tom and Huck's days, so I had no urge to say it myself in everyday speech.

In my opinion, it's perfectly fine to use most words as long as they're used in a good context; IE, if they help show how life was like for the poor, soldiers, slaveowners/slaves, etc. It shouldn't be unjustified, just like violence in most novels shouldn't be unjustiified.

Granted, if you're writing a book for anyone much younger than a "tween", it will most likely be a bit happy-go-lucky, so you probably wouldn't encounter the situations where violence and swearing would be justified.

Answer 5

15

Answer 6

I was reading Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins at 13. Kids will read what they will read - if a child is reading ahead of their class, you have to expect this. And if there are a few swear words, they're not going to be any worse than the words the kids are hearing at school. Editors could set guidelines on specifically teenage books - and often do - but as much as we hate to admit it, teenagers are not as innocent as we'd like them to be.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I really don't think there should be any age limit as I don't think there should be swearing in kids books at all they hear enough when they are with other children at least the books they read could be free from obscenities.

Answer 9

13/14

Answer 10

Libraries in Oz have a Young Adult section where the books have swear words but definitely not in the childrens section. (A library card is barcoded with date of birth so the books you take out have to be age appropriate)