Rowling blow to plans to age-band books

03 July 2008
By David Robinson, Books Editor, writing in The Scotsman

PUBLISHERS plans to make all children's books carry age guidance were in tatters last night as JK Rowling came out in opposition to the move.
The support of the Edinburgh-based Harry Potter creator was welcomed by authors determined to sabotage moves to introduce age-banding on all children's titles by the autumn."I am absolutely delighted that JK Rowling has added her support to the campaign, said the novelist Anne Fine. But I'm not surprised, because we all know that the reading age for her novels is extremely wide."

The writers' rebellion against age-banding is spearheaded by Philip Pullman, the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. "Declaring that a book is for any group in particular means excluding every other group, and I don't want to exclude anybody," he said.

Pullman has set up a website, notoagebanding.org, which so far has attracted more than 2,500 signatures. Rowling signed the petition yesterday. Her name appears alongside a host of other well-known children's writers, including Anthony Horowitz, Terry Pratchett and Alan Garner. All four of the writers who have been appointed Children's Laureate “ Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen " have also signed up.

For the full story from The Scotsman link here.