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Reviewing books
The document provides guidelines for reviewing books and audiobooks for school libraries, emphasizing the importance of understanding the material, the audience, and fair assessment principles. It includes examples of book reviews, suggestions for outreach via social media, and highlights controversies surrounding specific titles. Additionally, it discusses the role of libraries in providing reviews and maintaining professional standards.
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Reviewing books
- 1. SHARING THE GOOD STUFF REVIEWING BOOKS& AUDIOS FOR THE SCHOOL LIBRARY Karen Perry VAASL Old Dominion University October 20-22, 2016 kperry@odu.edu Norfolk, VA
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- 5. GENERAL REVIEWING PRINCIPLES “A bookreview describes, analyzes and evaluates. The review conveys an opinion, supporting it with evidence from the book.” - Bill Asenjo (http://www.writing-world.com/) Read the book Know what kind of review you are writing Consider all your audiences Be fair in your assessment Other writing tips: • http://www.booktrust.org.uk/ • http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Book-Review
- 6. DESCRIPTIVE WORDS Lord ofthe E-Files
- 7. HOW CAN YOUREVIEW BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY? Volunteer! Your building level perspective makes you very valuable – • School level • Minority perspective • Fluent in another language • Special expertise
- 8. JOURNALS USING VOLUNTEERS School Library Journal (MediaSource) School Library Connection (ABC-Clio)
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- 10. BLOGS/NEWSPAPERS/LO CAL PUBLICATIONS Nerdy BookClub Viriginia-Pilot -- Richmond Times-Dispatch -- Roanoke Times Start your own review blog
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- 12. REVIEWING FOR YOUR SCHOOLCOMMUNITY Newsletters Websites In Your Public Access Catalog Social Media (School accounts in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
- 13. EXAMPLE FOR PARENTS Old MacDonaldHad a Truck by Steve Goetz, Illustrated by Eda Kaban (Chronicle Books) is a fun follow-up to the classic song with a farm full of big machinery. Old MacDonald not only has a truck, he also has a front-end loader, a bulldozer, a dump truck, an excavator, a grader, a steamroller, and a cement mixer. His wife is handy with tools and so are the animals on the farm, as pictured in the cartoonish illustrations rendered in an earth tone palette. This book will be excellent fun for those young readers who know the song and love big machines. Parents could even sing along! OR Old MacDonald Had a Truck by Steve Goetz. Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a...TRUCK?! With a DIG DIG here and a SCOOP SCOOP there, this classic folk song just got revved up! Beloved machines --- the excavator, dump truck, bulldozer, and more --- will have the vehicle-obsessed of all ages reading and singing along.
- 14. SCHOOL LIBRARIANS WHO TALKBOOKS ON TWITTER 1) Travis Jonker @100scopenotes Dorr Elementary School in Dorr, MI 2) Andy Plemmons @plemmonsa David C. Barrow Elementary in Athens, GA 3) John Schumacher @MrSchuReads formerly of Brook Forest Elementary School but now a spokeman for Scholastic Book Fairs 4) Sherry Gick @LibraryFanatic Rossville Consolidated Schools in Rossville, IN 5) Mary Ann Scheuer @MaryAnnScheuer Emerson Elementary in Berkeley, CA 6) Colby Sharp @colbysharp Third grade Teacher (#SharpSchu Twitter Book Club)
- 15. TWITTER IS READING OUTREACH Students,parents, community What’s new What’s hot In 140 characters or less With photos With video
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- 19. TWITTER PRACTICE Aim forgenre, author-- if a name students might know, sequel info if any, a little plot info. A HOOK. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
- 20. TWITTER PRACTICE Serafina andthe Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty. Disney- Hyperion, July 14, 2016. More mystery in Serafina & the Twisted Staff, sequel to Serafina & the Black Cloak. Animals & humans unite to fight evil at Biltmore!_ _
- 21. REVIEWING CONNECTS BOOKS ANDREADERS
- 22. CHELSEA CLINTON MATT DELA PENA
- 23. REACTIONS TO REVIEWS Read thebook Know what kind of review you are writing Consider all your audiences Be fair in your assessment You review from your perspective.
- 24. THERE IS ATRIBE OF KIDS
- 25. A TRIBE OFKIDS POSITIVE REVIEWS Booklist starred review: “Clad in a leafy tunic and little stick horns, a boy embraces a blue mountain goat before it wanders up a nearby cliff…don’t expect this to linger on your SMACK of SHELVES.” SLJ: “Arrayed in pixielike footwear and a leafy tunic, his protagonist is constantly moving… A shift from past to present tense upon the return home, plus the second use (new meaning) of "a tribe of kids," contrasts a raucous, Pan-like forest civilization with the quiet goats that opened the story. Hornbook: “The trip comes full-circle in a satisfying blast of green trees filled with a "tribe of kids," this time the human kind. Seeing our hero dancing and playing with new friends and family -- finally, with no need for disguise or imitation -- one can easily imagine young readers joining in: cavorting, dancing, and generally living the wild life of happy children, free from worry and care.
- 26. NEGATIVES AND CONTROVERSY Il SungNa’s ‘The Opposite Zoo,’ and More by Minh C. Le (New York Times) Le feels that the “juxtaposition of the word ‘tribe’ with the woodland utopia conjured uncomfortable associations,” and a particular image is problematic “in its echoes of the longstanding trope in children’s literature that uses Native imagery or ‘playing Indian’ to signify wildness.” Lane Smith’s new picture book: There Is a TRIBE of KIDS (plus a response to Rosanne Parry) by Debbie Reese (American Indians in Children’s Literature) Reese details the picture book and focuses first on the word play and the repeated pattern of a child going through the natural world, mimicking behaviors of groups of animals, while garbed in leaves. Reese then moves on to discuss the double spread that features a TRIBE of KIDS (children) and the specific images she finds objectionable. She also delineates many counter-points to Rosanne Parry’s review of the book. Reese uses words like “rolling your eyes” and “grinding your teeth” to express how irate she is with Parry’s proposed interpretation of the book’s images.
- 27. Reviewing While White:There Is a Tribe of Kids by Sam Bloom (Reading While White) Bloom finds himself in agreement with Le’s (NYTimes) take on the book and ponders why all the reviewers for the major publications have given this book such favorable feedback when he sees even more images that are problematic. He also links to a page delineating the negative associations that the word TRIBE contains from the Teaching Tolerance site. Bloom concludes his essay by strongly indicating that he does not recommend this book. He writes, “If it wasn’t Lane Smith’s name on the front cover, could we more easily see the problems inherent in There Is a Tribe of Kids? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know that this is a book that I personally won’t be sharing with (human) kids.” NEGATIVES AND CONTROVERSY
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- 35. REVIEWING ADVICE AND QUESTIONS Reviewis not a personal comment But a professional comment, using all your skills Not a censoring tool. How do you put the ideas/facts from your perusal of the book into concise words the review reader (professional) will understand? Secret language/euphemisms/ code words?
- 36. CLARITY Libraries are notneutral, neither are reviews. School Library Journal: Libraries are Not Neutral
Editor's Notes
- #7 Use descriptive words. Everything can’t be good. For example: Lord of the E-Files ( co-written with William Golding): Savagery erupts when the decision is made to no long purchase print books. Contains Low Level violence. OR Not Far Enough From the Maddening Crowd (Co-written with Thomas Hardy) Tragic story describing the Teacher Librarian’s attempt to have a lunch break, whilst pursued by numerous students who want to check out while having overdues, and teachers who can’t get their computer to work. Or Finally: Little Library on the Prairie (co-written with Laura Ingalls Wilder). Heart-wrenching story of an economically-disadvantaged, but politically correct family, who used their school library for recreational purposes, when reading was not considered nerdy.
- #8 SLJ – show contact information School Library Media Connection – show contact information Audios – AudioFile magazine, SLJ
- #12 Faculty or administration, other librarians
- #14 First example=106 words. Second example is 61 words. About 50 words. Recommended lists by category is often better for parents..
- #22 Your recommendation is like your word – it becomes trusted after you have proven you can be trusted by making good recommendations. Your job is to connect students with books.
- #24 I review while white. I review while a product of the 60’s and 70’s. I review as a Southerner. I review as a school librarian. I review as a connoisseur of audio books. I review as a mother.