This book is crucial to understanding how people were treated less the 50 years ago. Race was and is a huge conflict in our society and Kathryn Stockett really hits the nail on the head with her captiviating story. Many people do not enjoy heavy racial stories, but I will you to just give this book a go as it gives a perspective some people may not have expierenced. 
 I would recoommend this book to teenagers (not children, I would say) aged 12-13 and up, all the way through to adult. The Help can be read many times and with each read you can get a new angle of perspective, which happens regularly as you go through your teeange years.