Just maybe some info on how other parents have made these decisions.

I may be a bit of an outlier, but I pretty much let my kids read anything they want. I'm more cautious with movies,* but I generally think books are the safest place to explore things you're curious about or encounter potentially upsetting content. You're limited to what your own brain can imagine or understand (though graphic novels are more of a gray area here), and it's super easy to skim/skip stuff you're not ready for, or put the book down if it's too much.

*Rose, age 14, wants to watch Pulp Fiction and my answer so far is no, mostly because of the rape scene -- but she also picked up Lolita on her own and I'm fine with her reading that.

That said, there's a difference between something my kids pick up on their own and something I actively provide for them. Jane (who is about the same age as ltc) is a strong and voracious reader and has read a number of YA books, but when I'm picking out books to recommend or bring home for her, I'm usually still getting middle-grade books, not YA. I do feel like YA as a genre has aged up quite a bit in the last 10-15 years, and it's harder to find YA titles that are really aimed at younger teens now, which is a problem.

Kate! Hello!! So wild that your kids are that old now!! I know I read a lot of inappropriate shit as a teenager. I still remember at some point in middle school (maybe 6th grade?) I did like an extra credit book report on watership down (because I had randomly read it) and the teacher was quizzing me about what it was *really* about and I was like “…rabbits??”

Kate, yeah a lot of the research I was doing on the YA books was eliminating the ones with SA themes because I don’t think she’s ready for that yet. And I have some really scary body horror books on our shelves that will definitely remain a no for now. I am going to let her read the Grishaverse books after she’s done with the Hunger Games because I think those are mostly on the same level maturity wise. Movies are easier for me because she’s mostly into musicals.

Hi Kate! I was much the same with the boys. I didn't really worry about what they read because their interests were pretty fixed. We had a great local library and they picked what looked good to them. Bobby never liked to read any fiction, just magazines or non-fiction history or science stuff. Brendon read constantly and so fast it was hard to keep up with. Pretty much all fantasy in his youth. Eragon, Potter, and so forth. He is more open to other options now that he is older.

You might try some of the older YA fantasies - like Patricia McKillip and Robin McKinley. It's been a long time since I read them but standards for YA were different back then. I do remember there was some controversy over McKinley's "Deerskin" but the fact that it was controversial tells you something about the YA of the time.

There's a pretty graphic rape scene in Deerskin.

Yes. That's why it was controversial but that was very controversial at the time. Not sure how controversial it would be these days.

I was also never very careful about what my kids were reading, but I do try to make sure they're informed before they read something graphically violent or sexual, or something I know hasn't aged well so they don't get jump-scared by 80s-era homophobia / gender roles.

I don't have kids, so I don't know for real how I'd be - probably much like my mother, which was basically chill to uobbservant (at least the appearance of) . Though I do remember her forbidding Harold Robbins in her house when she found one my sister was reading, ha! Seems fair.

But she didn't mind my reading Tuned Out. Pretty sure I kept Forever to myself, though. Not sure what she would've thought.

My mom was so strict about movies and tv, but when I started stealing her romance novels off the shelf she just sort of raised and eyebrow and moved on. ltc has very little interest in romantic content at this point. So I don’t want her to accidentally stumble onto something that will be way too much for her.