Books don't come with those ratings. But a character getting drunk in a bar would be fine for YA or even MG, probably. What the character DOES while drunk might lead to complications, but just drinking? Not a big deal.
I thought the book rating system was the same as movies and games. How does it go? Or alternatively, what should I look up?
There still won't be a rating system for books, even if a character cuts another character's fingers and toes off.
There's an article on the Writer's Digest site entitled The Key Differences Between Middle Grade vs Young Adult that might answer your questions. I'm not sure if a direct link is permitted (me being new to this forum) so I'll leave it to you to do your own search of their web site. I'm currently writing what might end up being published as YA and my rule of thumb is no 'f' words and no referring to the hind quarters of a person's anatomy using words starting with 'a.' Also, no sexually explicit scenes, but that's not really part of the requirements for YA; I'm just not comfortable writing them. Maybe I'm going too far, but that's my approach.
Linking to a resource or article is not the same as linking to something commercially for sale. The Key Differences Between Middle Grade vs Young Adult Looks like a useful resource.
