does this make sense 
I don't want to be seen as a judge and jury of what books will be picked to be ordered in multiples ... I want to be seen as a parent that cares what the kids read ... not just my child but those around her... I am at school enough to watch the kids change and act out what they see on TV , in movies or read in books ... and it seems that they prefer to act out bad parts more so than possitive ones .... the teachers polled parents at conferences and found that around 90% didn't know what their kids were reading and as long as they got their AR points they didn't care ... most parents are not involves with their kids schooling enough ... maybe I am too involved ... I look at their numbers but I also look at my kids and watch how they get to those numbers ... one parent on survey said as long as her child maintained a 70 , C , average they didn't get involved .
I don't oppose books like the Hunger Games ... I read them ... they were engaging but at same time I didn't particularly like them ...again I will sat that I believe that my experience living through a school shooting where the shooter was at my house handing me a cupcake and 3 days later was turning the corner to become a murderer colors my view on kid on kid violence … I oppose a child being forced to read a book that upsets them and I oppose kids that are too young reading material that is not age appropriate ( case point my now 9 year old granddaughter who read the Twilight books at 7 ) … my granddaughter could read the words and knew what was being said but at 7 does she need to be reading books that are extremely violent or with strong sexual content ? … my DIL said if she could read the words she could read it …my son said she should wait … he lost … now we have a 9 year old that pops off with inappropriate subject matter at family gatherings describing things she shouldn’t know because she has been over exposed too soon …
OK … getting off my soap box … this is a subject that has been going since books were printed … at least I have never burned a book … or banned one … have marked some that were slated for younger readers as wait a year or 2 … dang it … still have one foot on the box 
Soundy ~
I admire your concern about approving books that are age-appropriate without feeling like a prude.
The salient point here is that you are an adult - a parent - with good sense and traditional values dealing with books for
children. That being the case, careful consideration must be paid to content including theme, language and overall tone, especially when violence or sexual situations are involved in the book's story line. Granted, each child will have a different maturity level but a child is still a child and simply being able to read about sex or violence, knowing all the words but not having the maturity to grasp the full meaning, is a factor that you must deal with when selecting books for children, be they six or twelve. As parents, I believe we have a moral duty to select what we consider 'age-appropriate' reading material for our progeny, especially when they are quite young (under eight years old).
Your account of your granddaughter reading the 'Twilight' books at age seven and not really being able to understand them is a good case in point. Being precocious is great but most of the time, the precocious child is unable to understand the real-life consequences of some of the bad behavior they may read about in books. Unfortunately, society doesn't support good parenting anymore and we see that in high school kids being promiscuous and doing drugs. Some get through that stage unscathed but some do not and the 'cool' high school kid isn't so cool a decade later dealing with a nasty drug habit that keeps him in and out of jail and with no future or the girl that is stuck in a dead-end job or on welfare, has two babies with different fathers that have long since 'moved on'. Do books cause this? Of course not. But cumulatively, the media (books, movies, music, TV) and sometimes (but not always) absentee or irresponsible parenting help to produce a child going the wrong direction in life.
One of my wife's best friends is a high school English teacher who teaches honor classes in literature and she sees this every day. Although her students read the classics, she also has to assign 'modern' books that sometimes contain a lot of sex and violence. This Christian lady told us that when they read aloud and come to a part of the story where a character uses a lot of curse words, she tells the student reading aloud to skip over those words. Few students object - and they are far from all model teens. Although she is dealing with teenagers, some of them seniors, she tries to guide them into realizing that despite what some books present (
and society obliquely condones) violence and promiscuity are not desirable choices.
I believe this is the best way for a parent - who has far more influence on their child than a teacher - to act on this issue. Select age-appropriate books for their children but as those children grow (
as they have a habit of doing) teach them, preferably by example as well as words, what is the best way to handle life's challenges and, especially as they near puberty, how to respond to and control their natural urges and not make a mess of their life. Some books can actually reinforce good values. For older children (
10 and up) who are proficient readers, some books can help them realize that their 'romantic' feelings, fears and concerns are universal and that they are not necessarily 'weird' (
kids favorite word).
I don't consider that stating your opinions on this important subject as being on a soapbox (
preaching) and I don't consider my response to your concerns anything more than stating a point of view that, I hope, encourages you a bit as you seriously attempt to do what is right for your children - or, you can just ignore it. I won't be offended. It's just an opinion and I'm sure some parents would disagree with it. So be it. At least we have the freedom to do what we believe is best for our children, as I did - and I know you will.
Jim
