No to Age Banding
Around 750 authors and illustrators have now signed the following Statement by Philip Pullman. These signatories include:
Jacqueline Wilson
Terry Pratchett
Peter Dickinson
Anthony Browne
Andrew Morton
Anthony Thwaite
Michael Morpurgo
Anne Fine
Bel Mooney
J K Rowling
Laurence Anholt
Jane Ray
Susan Hill
Debi Gliori
Carole Angier
Alan Ayckbourn
Nina Bawden
Michael Rosen
Alexander McCall Smith
Ariel Dorfman
Catherine Anholt
Claire Tomalin
Katie Fforde
Celia Rees
Neil Gaiman
Michael Foreman
Malorie Blackman
Quentin Blake
Kevin Crossley-Holland
Beverley Naidoo
Claire Tomalin
Linda Newbery
Geraldine McCaughrean
Aidan Chambers
David Lodge
Hilary McKay
Lauren Child
Roddy Doyle
Tony Bradman
Eleanor Updale
Colin McNaughton
Julie Bertagna
Korky Paul
Sally Prue
Deborah Moggach
Francesca Simon
Jamila Gavin
Bernard Ashley
Don Paterson
Darren Shan
John Boyne
David Almond
Shirley Hughes
Dick King-Smith
Alan Garner
Kara May
Susan Elkin
Helen Dunmore
Nicola Morgan
Allan Guthrie
Melvin Burgess
Grace Dent
Zizou Corder
Ruth Brown
Michelle Magorian
Paul Geraghty
Rose Impey
Nigel Hinton
Penny Dale
Diana Hendry
Helen Craig
Eva Ibbotson
Maggie Gee
Francis King
Theresa Breslin
Sue Palmer
Charlie Fletcher
Iain Banks
Diana Wynne Jones
Graham Marks
Jonathon Stroud
Joel Stewart
Adele Geras
Lynne Reid Banks
Steve Augarde
Robert Muchamore
S F Said
Nicholas Tucker
Penny Dale
Keith Gray
Marcus Sedgwick
Mal Peet
Bamber Gascoigne
Daniel Hahn
Berlie Doherty
Nicky Singer
Ian Whybrow
Kate Thompson
Ian Serraillier (Estate)
Ann Thwaite
Ross Collins
Ros Asquith
Tim Bowler
Jackie Kay
Gillian Cross
Chris d'Lacey
Nigella Lawson
Anthony Horowitz
The entire list of more than 3500 signatories can be seen by going to Supporters.
We are writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, booksellers, publishers, educationalists, psychologists, parents and grandparents. Some of the writers and illustrators have a measure of control over what appears on the covers of their books; others have less.
But we are all agreed that the proposal to put an age-guidance figure on books for children is ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers, and highly unlikely, despite the claims made by those publishers promoting the scheme, to make the slightest difference to sales.
We take this step to disavow publicly any connection with such age-guidance figures, and to state our passionately-held conviction that everything about a book should seek to welcome readers in and not keep them out.
Here are some of our reasons:
- Each child is unique, and so is each book. Accurate judgments about age suitability are impossible, and approximate ones are worse than useless.
- Children easily feel stigmatized, and many will put aside books they might love because of the fear of being called babyish. Other children will feel dismayed that books of their ‘correct’ age-group are too challenging, and will be put off reading even more firmly than before.
- Age-banding seeks to help adults choose books for children, and we're all in favour of that; but it does so by giving them the wrong information. It’s also likely to encourage over-prescriptive or anxious adults to limit a child's reading in ways that are unnecessary and even damaging.
- Everything about a book is already rich with clues about the sort of reader it hopes to find – jacket design, typography, cover copy, prose style, illustrations. These are genuine connections with potential readers, because they appeal to individual preference. An age-guidance figure is a false one, because it implies that all children of that age are the same.
- Children are now taught to look closely at book covers for all the information they convey. The hope that they will not notice the age-guidance figure, or think it unimportant, is unfounded.
- Writers take great care not to limit their readership unnecessarily. To tell a story as well and inclusively as possible, and then find someone at the door turning readers away, is contrary to everything we value about books, and reading, and literature itself.
To sign up and show your support for this statement, send an email to . We will publish your name and any relevant description (eg author, librarian, bookseller) on this web site. We'll keep your email address confidential and won't pass it to anybody else, but we may write occasionally with relevant news.
We've had reports that the above link is garbled in some browsers. If that is the case, please accept our apologies: the link is coded to fool the spammers but it's obviously fooling some browsers too. If necessary type the email address signup at notoagebanding dot org into your email program.
Go to a list of people who have already signed up.
