10 year-olds already know about this stuff

Question:

dear mrs naylor i am a fan of your books and i love to look for edvise on your blog but most people would say that your book Intensley alice is some how a turning point from her acting like herself because part about the park bench and they woudn’t  want 10 and 11 year olds reading the newer books but 1and 10 year olds already know about this stuff from tv ,books ,older kids taking about it. i’m an 11 year old and my mom already knows that i read all of the alice books and she is fine with and a lot of kids that i kmow are alredy reading books more that has more than your book i will always the alice books.

Phyllis replied:

I haven’t had any complaints from readers about Alice not  being herself because of what she and Patrick were doing on the park bench.  Alice is growing older, the situations are more sophisticated, and the age level on the book, as determined by the publisher, is “14 and up.”  If your mom is fine with your reading the Alice books, then I am too.