Two ways to quickly check the content of a book
One of the questions I get asked ALL the time is if there is any way to quickly check if a book has questionable content.
Whether you’re wondering if there is going to be bad behavior in a chapter book your child wants to read or if you want to see if the novel you’re seeing pop up all over Instagram has more swearing and sex than you’re interested in, lots of us want to be able to screen books before we pick up a copy or crack the cover.
There’s no book content rating system like there is for movies and television shows (which doesn’t bother me, since those are so subjective anyway), but I have two ways that I like to quickly check the content of a book before I hand it over to my teens, young children or pick it up myself.
The first is Common Sense Media. It’s the closest to a book content rating system I’ve seen for books and they cover most of the big name books (if it’s an obscure title, you’re probably out of luck). They also do movies and other media.
It gives a 1-5 rating for language, violence, sex, and drugs/alcohol, and positive role models.
For instance, here is what it looks like for the Junie B. Jones series.
And you can click on any of them for specific examples of what’s in the book. It looks like this:
And then there are reviews by real parents and kids.
Again, it’s not a perfect system and you may disagree with the ratings and recommendations, but it’s a very quick way to see what’s included in a popular book before you pick it up.
My other favorite way to check the content of a book is the 1 and 2 star reviews on Amazon.
If there are vivid sex scenes or tons of swearing or bullying or anything else that might bother you as a reader, it’s most likely to show up in those 1 and 2 star reviews (you’ll also sometimes get to see the worst side of humanity in those 1 and 2 star reviews, so . . . just be prepared for that).
Obviously, both of these work better for popular books that have a lot of input from readers and parents, but they’re my most reliable ways to quickly check a book before I hand it over to my voracious reader (Ella has read more 200 chapter books already this year . . . there is ZERO way I could pre-read everything before giving books to her)
There are two other things I want to mention about book content.
One, the more books you read, the better you’ll get at knowing intuitively if a book is going to be a good fit for you or not. I’m RARELY surprised when I pick up a book because the cover, the blurb, the “perfect for fans of . . . .” recommendations, and the first few pages give me a million signals about what kind of book it’s going to be. There are certainly exceptions, but the more I read, the more I can predict a book’s level of sex, profanity, or other content with reasonable accuracy.
Two, if you give your child a book that turns out to not fit your personal and family standards, it’s not the end of the world. It’s a great opportunity to have a conversation about why you don’t like to read books where siblings are really unkind to each other or books with a lot of bad language and how the media we consume affects us. You don’t have to just snatch the book away and forbid them to read it – eventually they’ll pick ALL their own books – but you can help them start to identify how to choose good books and when to put a book down, and those are valuable skills to learn.
If you have other great was to quickly check the content of a book, I’d love to hear!
This is great! You can also use the Search feature to look for a keyword across all of a book’s Amazon reviews. After clicking “See all reviews,” I use the search bar to look for the words “sex,” or “language,” or whatever else I’m trying to check on. I’ve found that a lot of 4 and 5 star Amazon book reviews in the last couple years are starting to include this content advisory type of information. The reviews search bar is also super helpful if you need to screen for specific triggers, like “miscarriage” or “rape.” Thanks for all your great content, Janssen!
This is super helpful – thank you for sharing!
For (mostly) older books, I find the Reshelving Alexandria website (and their paid membership) very useful — the books in their database have extensive information and content considerations to help make decisions about books. https://reshelvingalexandria.com/ (No affiliation, just a user.)
For myself, I have found that romance/sex is so subjective too. So most romance type books that I pick up I check on allaboutromance.com. They have a steam rating system that is pretty accurate. Now they don’t have everything, but a large selection of romance books (like my favorite Regency types) are on there.
And so true that as you read more you get better at choosing books you know will fit what you like to read.
Goodreads is a great place to check the 1 star ratings for content discussion also. It’s my go-to. Great post Janssen 😊💕
The Good and the Beautiful had a book list as well. There are some pretty in depth comments on content too
https://goodandbeautifulbooklist.com/
Bummed that they started charging for Common Sense. That was my go-to, but I can’t really justify $30/ year for it. Next time I’ll try Amazon! Thanks!
PluggedIn.com also reviews books (and movies, TV, games, music, YouTube Channels, etc.) We’ve used it for years for movies, but just started using it for other things. It is based on a Christian World View, but even if that’s not your vibe, it’s a great place to learn content. It has spoilers, but I’m ok with that.
Do you know about redeemed reader? GREAT reviews for content!
I use Common Sense Media and Kirkus Reviews for quick reviews also. I find the last 2 or 3 sentences to be the most revealing information. Thanks for this post, really helpful! 🙂
Just now seeing this, and have used a very similar system for years. Most of the comments had additional helpful resources as well…I’ll throw my own hat in the ring here: https://screenitfirst.com is a fairly new site to add to the mix. My husband and I launched this about 5 months ago — it’s not perfect, but it’s a simple and easy-to-use system that removes the subjective nature of most book review sites. It’s community sourced… so if you see something you want to share just crack open the cover and send us a snapshot — our moderators approve 99% of all submissions.
Thanks for the great post, I hope you’ll consider including Screen It First in this or a future post.
Good Book Mom is a good resource to use for book reviews! She doesn’t have every book listed, but the majority have been posted as a review from her and I appreciate her take on them.