Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. This signifies that the story rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be especially careful about letting their younger children read. Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen; one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard.

Restricted-Under 17 signifies that the rating board has concluded that the story rated contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the story before letting their children to read it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a story's use of language, theme, violence, sex or its portrayal of drug use.

No One 17 and Under Admitted. This signifies that the rating board believes that most American parents would feel that the story is patently adult and that children age 17 and under should not read it. The story may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of sexually-oriented language, or scenes of excessive violence. The NC-17 designation does not, however, signify that the rated story is obscene or pornographic.