Our Rating System
At Shelf-Aware blog, our mission is to help find and recommend clean, Christian or wholesome books for every age—from picture books to adult fiction. No stars, no gore, no open-door scenes, no horror, no strong language. Just high-quality recommendations you can trust.
To that aim we created this rating system to help. We will always include dropdown menus beneath each levels so that you can see details on the individual books. We leave the details in dropdown menus so that anyone not wishing to be spoiled can avoid that.
We try our best to include all relevant content notes, or possibly concerning content, but we may not catch everything and/or you may feel things are concerning that we do not. Please research individually if you’re sensitive to specific topics/subjects!
🤬 Langauge
Level 1 : None
Level 2: Darn, gosh, made up swears
Level 3: Occasional mild swear word but nothing stronger than d*** or h*** , may have uses of OMG.
Level 4: Use of common profanity: d*** , h*** , s***
Note: We do not recommend books with strong language.
We will add any content we think relevant such as name calling, slang, suggestive terminology, or crude terms. in the dropdown.
❤️ Romance
Level 1: None
Level 2: Kisses only
Level 3: Kisses and embracing, suggestive dialogue
Level 4: Intense kisses and embracing, fades to black
Note: We do not recommend books with open door scenes
🛡️ Violence
Level 1: None
Level 2: Minor scuffles or off page
Level 3: Fantasy battles or historical skirmishes, no gore
Level 4: Described injuries or intense action,
Note: we do not recommend books with gratuitous cruelty or gore.
‼️ Heads up
We will note if books have the following in this section:
Grief/Loss: Infertility, Death of parent - child - pet - guardian etc.
Mental Health Themes: Depression, Anxiety, mentions of self-harm, disorders, suicide (off page)
Abuse: Physical, sexual (off page), verbal
Substance Use/Abuse/Addiction
Prejudices, racism, genocide, etc.
Family Conflict: Separation, Divorce, Abandonment, toxic dynamics
Other: Anything we feel you may wish to be informed about before reading