Marjorie Blackman - Noughts and Crosses Trilogy

[Tailsmo]

My DD went to a birthday party recently, and was given part 3 in the Noughts and Crosses trilogy as part of the party bag. The party was an 11th birthday, DD is still 10. Is it me, or is this book not aimed at this age group? I don't want to stop DD growing up, but I object to letting her read swear words that we would not say at home.

[andyb]

I think the language and subject matter are more suited to a teenager. I consider the series inappropriate for a 10 year old despite the fact that the child may have a reading age of 13+. So...no, it's not just you. I would read the book so you can be specific when explaining why you don't think it's suitable yet and then put it aside for a couple of years if you are still not comfortable with your DD reading it.

We had a similar situation with the Robert Muchamore Cherubs series - DS1 read the first one at school (aged 12) and has since bought more but he says he doesn't think them suitable for his 10 year old brother. I have also read a couple and agree with his assessment which upsets DS2 as a couple of boys in his class have read them. It helps if you can say which themes/language you object to.

[Belinda]

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[la boume]

Hi Talismo, I was thinking about this book recently. My DD is 10 as well and despite being an avid and advanced reader, I think it is too early because of the "issues". At waterstones the trilogy has a sticker "not suitable for younger readers". That makes it 13 or even 14 plus, I suppose.

[Marylou]

The first book was on the Y7 reading list for DD1 seven years ago. I skim-read it and ended up feeling thoroughly depressed! The author also contributed a short story to an otherwise excellent compendium released to mark the Millennium, which evoked a similar response. Not my favourite author I'm afraid, certainly not if you're looking for the feel-good factor!

[Tailsmo]

Dear All

Thanks for your responses.

Yes, the "younger readers" warning was the flag for me. Personally I object to bad language in books, because a) I don't think it necessary, and b) I think it can encourage that sort of speech - sort of conditioning against how offensive the language actually is. In this particular case, I'm also concerned about raising these apartheid-like issues, not that I want to pretend it doesn't exist.

I've given her a copy of Anne Frank's diary this year, and we've started talking about the issues that book contains. That might be enough for us for 1 year!

You're right though, andyb, I will explain why I don't want her to read it yet.

[Tailsmo]

Ha ha! Just read my original post which makes it look like there are swear words we do use at home

[First-timer]

I'm not familiar with the books but would wonder at the point of giving you the third book in a trilogy. Is the language very bad or does it have adult themes? I won't even allow my DD (9) to read Jacqueline Wilson books because of some of the content.

[Thingsbehindthesun]

I'm not familiar with the books but would wonder at the point of giving you the third book in a trilogy. Is the language very bad or does it have adult themes? I won't even allow my DD (9) to read Jacqueline Wilson books because of some of the content.

I too dislike Wilson's book, but they are always popular with young girls.I'm glad my oldest dd skipped the whole series.

The Blackman books do have adult themes -which is more than just the language.

[Jules7]

My DD in Y7 has read them all and loved them. The author visited DD's school last term and DD was very proud that the author signed a copy of one of DD's books.

I did read the first one and pondered but DD would only get them out of the library at school and read them there if I started banning books, which I don't like to do. I would rather she shared and discussed the books she reads and we can always have a chat about any "issues". She has been reading "older" books from quite a young age as her reading age has generally been 4-5 yrs above her actual age so it comes with the territory. She doesn't seem to have been adversely affected in any way and I think she is a mature (mostly!) sensible girl you can have an open discussion with on most things.