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Historically, books and movies didn't always have a specific target age. While some material was just for adults, a lot of what we think of now as being for kids or teens had a more general market...
#4: Attribution notice removed
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/43954 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Historically, books and movies didn't always have a specific target age. While some material was just for adults, a lot of what we think of now as being for kids or teens had a more general market. For example, many people here reference _The Hobbit_ when talking about Middle Grade books. But it certainly wasn't written as such. Tolkien did originally write for children as a larger category but not for the narrow range of middle grade, which is approximately ages 8-12. It appears to be [pitched towards children of wide variety of ages](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/8097/what-age-group-did-tolkien-write-the-hobbit-for). Or look at Disney animation. Snow White wasn't a kid's movie. Other examples are Jane Austen novels which are common in young adult readings but were not for teens specifically. Do publishers today only look for novels within certain age groups (or for adults) or is there a place for novels that are "family friendly" (meaning no material too adult for a child) but that have a wider appeal?