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comment by TalibAladine
TalibAladine  ·  4378 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What's 'just right' for the young reader?

I devoured books during my childhood. By age 11, I was carrying around tomes heavier than the rest of my backpack. I think there isn't a specific "age" where certain things are appropriate, but rather levels of maturity and intellectual appetite. Since my mother did not like reading, and English was her second language, I could pretty much take home anything without explicit sex on the cover home. I took advantage of this early on, graduating from things like Goosebumps in the 2nd grade to reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels in the 3rd and 4th. There are certain themes that might be completely inappropriate for most children, though. I was handed Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series as a 14 year-old and never quite recovered.