Weekend Wonderings

I was processing the books that I picked up at the library and realized that I chose three books that were in the Juvenile shelves. It got me to thinking - why are books classified the way they are by age?
Feel free to play along, just post a link to your blog or comment here and we can all wonder together.


I understand some books are not appropriate for young readers but why would we adults tend to skip over those books and not even venture into that area of the shelves?

I, personally, had challenged myself to broaden my reading to other areas, so this year I have ventured into the juvenile realm on occasion. After all, I love Harry Potter, why wouldn't I like other books that are geared to the younger generations?

I read the A Bad Beginning (liked it) , read The Scarecrow and His servant (liked that too), listened to The Alchemyst: The secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (ditto), and I loved Black Beauty. I may not have small children around, but that doesn't mean, I can't enjoy these books.

I wonder, do other people limit themselves to certain areas because of age or some other reasons?