The Young Adult Audience
The young adult genre is extremely broad. It covers books that are targeted for 10-14 year olds , books that are targeted for middle school and up and books that are targeted for the high-school/adult crossover audience. The characters in these books also range in age from 12-20.
This makes picking a book even more difficult, epically for the younger middle school audience. Additionally subjects like sex and alcohol and drugs can be handled in drastically different ways. A princess drinking wine at dinner during the middle ages for example is far different than a modern teenager getting drunk.
Should I let my child read what they want?
For the most part I believe that if a child wants to read a book then you let them read it. If a child finds a specific passage uncomfortable they will either skim or skip the section (this is done quite frequently with romantic sections) or they will put the book down.
Books are different than movies. Books are a good place for kids to experience things that they may be uncomfortable with and they picture situations in the way that their imagination lets them as opposed to a directors version on a screen. Additionally books feature a level of reflection that you do not see in television and film. Characters reflect upon their decisions and the emotional repercussions are more evident than in film.
Why mention appropriateness at all if kids should be allowed to read anything?
If parents know what their kids are reading then they can discuss topics that they may find objectionable with them. Talk about decisions that the characters made and how they relate to the values that you hold in your household.
Additionally, if an adult is picking out a book for a child they can make sure that the book fits their level of appropriateness. It's far different for a child to pick a book that they really want to read that has questionable topics for their age and for an adult to buy or recommend a book for a tween or teen that has questionable content for their age without first warning the child or parent that the book contains those elements.
Appropriateness isn't just about figuring out what is inappropriate, it is also figuring out what age child is going to most appreciate a book. Younger readers are less likely to be a fan of books where the romance is the focus. Likewise a book with a really one dimensional romance or with very young characters is less likely to be a hit with older readers.
What topics do you cover as possibly inappropriate?
Violence
I try to point out violence and scariness because some younger sensitive readers who trend towards nightmares like to avoid these books. Also some readers dislike books with violence so knowing a book is violent or scary can help them to pick another book.
Sex
Sex is covered in varied ways in young adult literature. Topics range from sex talk as gossip, main characters having sex with no description, sex scenes that are fairly heavy (but not what you would see in adult romance novels and rape. The differences in how the sex is discussed and presented makes a huge difference when you are dealing with young teens.
Alcohol, Smoking and Drugs
There is a lot of normalization of alcohol as part of the teen experience in a lot of YA lit. I try to point out if there is a lot of drinking and the context. If the behavior is seen as destructive or is a minor thing in the book it is not as much of an issue. In historical or fantasy books where wine is considered a basic beverage I generally don't mention it.
Books that normalize drugs and alcohol and portray it as normal and not as destructive behavior bother me the most, and these are the books (along with the few with descriptive sex) that I will generally not recommend for the younger end of the young adult spectrum.
Cursing
I don't notice cursing unless it's excessive. If your child is reading books with characters that curse then they know those words and know not to repeat them.
What about Reading Levels?
Reading levels matter only for a couple reasons.
Younger Readers
When you have young readers (the elementary school set) you want to make sure that the books they are reading are around the right level. Books that are too difficult can frustrate a reader or take a super long time to read. It also can help parents figure out if other books will be achievable for their kids based on the lexile of recent books they have found. Lexile measures are not always available (and are rarely available for books that target the older young adult audience).
If they're reading for school.
Many schools require their students to read books that are within certain lexile or reading levels when they are reading for school.
Reluctant Readers
When trying to entice reluctant readers it is often a good idea to give them a book that is interesting yet is written at a low reading level.
Lexile levels only access the difficulty of the text (and they do so by calculating things like sentence and word length. They do not access the difficulty of the plot or the age appropriateness of the text. Most fiction (even on the adult market) is written no harder than a middle school reading level. Books that are written at super high lexiles include books like the ones you read in your high school and college literature classes and non fiction like your child's science textbooks. Here's a list if you are interested Books with high lexile.
Here is a chart that has a basic lexile conversion to grade levels.
