Movie Ratings, Book Ratings..

These two things don't mean the same thing. A movie rating tells you how age appropriate a movie is, whereas a book rating tells you if it's good or not. Why are there no ratings on books, an indicator, perhaps that identifies profanities or sexual imagery? I would like that to change. I personally would like to have a symbol on each book that has "adult" content, and referring to what specific adult content that is. Too many books for an outside source to label them all, libraries don't even read every book they have, so it'd have to be the publisher. Are they going to comply? No. Government policies could make them, but my MR. says that we shouldn't have any more government involvement than necessary or they take too much, and I agree. The only option left? Third party, and this means no markings on books. OK, fine so I'll have to look up reviews on books online. I have a way of checking to see if a movie has more content than I want to see by looking up on the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) under the Parent's Guide. I am so thankful for that link!!!

So what brings this all to my mind? My babysitter lent me a book...and it was inappropriate for me, let alone a 13 year old. (of course this is just my opinion, but had I known what was in it, I would not have read it) The next book I'd heard good (no details) things about was the Wicked series...I picked it up from a young acquaintance of mine...16. Within a chapter or two I was reading about a man with two sets of genitals and how he put them to use. I almost never don't finish a book, even if it's bad, but I didn't finish that one. The answer I've found...is right here on the web. Two sites:

1) commonsensemedia.org (not just books, but all media)

2) factsonfiction.org

Neither is perfect, though they are better than nothing. They both are good in some aspects, but not all. I think I may start reviewing books for these sites. I can't volunteer outside my home much because of little boys, but I can do this! In the long run, though, I may not be worrying about this as much ...I have three boys and boys just don't read book after book like girls do.