Ask Naomi: Is UPROOTED Appropriate For A Young Reader?
Naomi Novik
Diane C. writes: Is Uprooted appropriate for a young reader? Thank you for your time!Naomi answers: I find it really hard to answer this question, because it depends entirely on the child in question. I was climbing on the piano when I was ten to sneak down my mom’s copy of Clan of the Cave Bear, but I was also the kind of reader who happily sailed right past anything that my brain wasn’t ready to process: I thought it was all about cool Stone Age survival skills and Ayla being the most awesome with her Cave Lion totem whoo!
(I do think in general books are safer than video in this way, because the reader has to continuously cooperate with the experience — if a reader hits something that disturbs them, they can skip ahead or quit reading.)
Anyway, I will go out on a limb and say, Uprooted is more appropriate for a ten year old than Clan of the Cave Bear. But it was written for adults, and there is violence and death and sex in the book. I hope none of it is gratuitous, but that can make it hit harder. I would suggest reading it first yourself before giving it to a young reader.
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Any reader with an interest in fairy tales would be a good one, I think. I would have devoured this book around 11 if not before - but that's also the age I read Robin McKinley's (incest, rape, menstrual blood!) and Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint (wait, two men can have sex together?) at that age, so I may not be the best person to ask. :)In any event I thought it was great and will be giving it out come the holidays.
I sneak-read my mom's copy of Digital Fortress at around 10 so I'm not a good judge either
At about 13 I picked Flowers in the Attic out of the school library... Maybe none of us are good judges!That ability to just ignore and skip over anything you don't understand is a great thing.
My Mom just surrendered and gave me her library card at age 10 with instructions to the librarian that I could check out anything I wanted. Good momma.
So apparently Uprooted readers agree that they have weird reading habits but that in general kids in the double-digit age range will be fine. :)
Id say teen readers is fine, there is some light sexual scenes (which were consensual and very tender) and some horrific/grotesque moments including battles scenes, but its nothing you wouldnt see in a pg 13 movie.
Christy wrote: "Id say teen readers is fine, there is some light sexual scenes (which were consensual and very tender) and some horrific/grotesque moments including battles scenes, but its nothing you wouldnt see ..."There's also the attempted rape scene, in the beginning (ish), that is pretty upsetting, but as mentioned above that might be one of the things a young mind skips over, depending. I personally found that very upsetting, but I also tend to be triggered by those scenes and a younger person (or just another random person) might not be.
I think it's fine for younger readers as young as 10....maybe younger depending on the kid. There are some dark moments and a little violence but I find TV much more disturbing than anything contained in the pages of this wonderful book.