Age Banding: a bad idea or just badly handled?

A couple of weeks ago Sam Shipman wrote here about the age banding row in children's book publishing and the campaign against it led by Philip Pullman and others. Now The Guardian is reporting cracks in the publishing industry, with a director of Scholastic admitting that her personal view is that the issue has been badly handled. This is not the same as saying age banding itself is a bad idea of course, but admitting you got the PR wrong could well be seen as a step in the right direction:

A leading publisher has admitted that the introduction of age banding to children's books has been poorly handled. The initiative has prompted a widespread rebellion amongst children's authors, with a website attracting almost 800 signatures from authors including Philip Pullman, JK Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Terry Pratchett.

"I would suggest – and I am speaking entirely as myself, rather than as the representative of anyone else or anybody here – that there were some regrettable errors in how publishers went about the introduction of age guidance," said Scholastic group managing director Kate Wilson. "I think most of them, if they had their time again, would do it differently and in greater consultation with authors."

Read the rest of the article here.

Visit the No To Age banding Website here.