The novelist and blogger, thinks they should.

I was thrilled to see this topic in the NY Times book blog. Though most comments to his post seem to disagree with him, thinking kids books should not be rated, that to do so is some horrible form of censorship.

I don’t see that at all. I see it as censoring the censors. Ha! Their ridiculous standards and values have ruled over our kids for far too long in an insane monopoly– I’m raging about the MPAA again. I know the MPAA doesn’t rate books, but they set a standard of what is “good” and what is “bad” that everyone seems to follow along with.

I’m not sure if Buchsbaum would agree or disagree with my major complaint that the typical censor/ rating types are not sensitive to or even aware of  or don’t believe things are damaging that I think are damaging and vice versa. His complaints seem to be with with adult themes and content finding their way into teen books.

Buchsbaum does rightly point out, anyway, that ratings are a guide, not censorship. Who has the time to read every kids book? See every movie? Examine every toy etc. I created this blog so parents could have some kind of resource to know about some alternatives out there to all the sterotypes the general media programs to our kids 24/7.