From Cover to Cover (18 page)

For an illustrated book:

WRITING THE REVIEW

Once you have done all the necessary reading, note taking, and fact-checking, you are ready to begin writing the actual review. A good review will briefly describe the contents, scope, and style of a book; critically assess its quality; and suggest its potential audience. Phyllis K. Kennemer has labeled these categories: descriptive, analytical, and sociological. She gives the following examples to illustrate:

Descriptive
: Objective statements about the characters, plot, theme, or illustrations.

Analytical
: Statements about literary and artistic elements, including evaluation, comparison, and mention of contributions to the field.

Sociological
: Judgments based on nonliterary considerations, such as potential controversial elements or predictions about popularity.

One of the most common criticisms of children’s book reviews today is that they rely heavily on description and include very little in the way of analysis.

As you begin to sketch out your review, it may be helpful to think about your responses in terms of these categories, as you will want to include each type of statement in your review. As a way of getting started, divide a piece of scratch paper into three sections and label them “descriptive,” “analytical,” and “sociological.” Using your notes, make a list of all the points you would like to include in your review, placing each one in its corresponding category. If the descriptive side of your paper seems to be filling up rapidly and there is very little in the analytical or sociological category to balance it, try using the descriptive points listed as a springboard for critical thinking by asking yourself questions about them. If you have noted, for example, that the book is illustrated with color photographs, ask yourself how they support the text. Are they well placed? Do they have clear captions? What sorts of things do they show?

DECIDING WHAT TO INCLUDE

Because reviews are generally brief (100 to 400 words, with the average length of 150 words in children’s book review journals), you will obviously not be able to include all your points, so you will have to decide which ones are the most important. Consider these questions: Which points relate to the book as a whole? Which ones will give readers a sense of the book’s style or unique qualities? Which ones best support your overall objective assessment of the book? How do they contribute to a fair, balanced judgment about the book?

Children’s book reviewers are sometimes taken to task by readers
who order a book based on positive reviews, only to find that one of the characters uses profanity on page 43. “Why didn’t you mention that in the review?” the readers ask, accusing the reviewer of misleading them. Former book review editor Betsy Hearne discusses this issue at length her essay “A Reviewer’s Story,” concluding that as a reviewer, she opts to mention potentially controversial elements “only if they warrant analysis as an important aspect of the work. Anything more would serve as a censor signal to steer librarians away from dangerous books and focus attention on didactic evaluation.”

Critic Zena Sutherland discussed the choices a reviewer must make when it comes to pointing out minor errors and discrepancies: “In a review, a negative comment can loom deceptively large and mislead the reader. If, for example, [a] pictorial discrepancy is minor, one doesn’t want readers to assume that the illustrations are replete with careless details.” Again, as Hearne stresses above, the mention of such details must be weighed against their significance to the book as a whole.

As you make decisions about what points to include in your review, you can also begin to think about how you will organize them. How do they relate to each other? Is there a logical order that emerges as you look at them together? Does one important element stand out as a central point in your evaluation? Can it be used as a thesis statement to open your review? Or will you start with a descriptive statement and then move on to your analytical points?

WRITING IT ALL DOWN

The opening sentence is important because it sets the tone for your entire review. Chosen with care, it can enliven your review and give it a logical structure that makes it easier for you to write and for others to read.

If you are writing for a general audience, you need to grab your readers’ attention with the opening sentence. You may also need to
provide a bit of context for them, since you can’t assume that they know anything at all about children’s books. Finding a hook that quickly links your audience to children’s literature in general and the book you’re reviewing specifically is an effective way to open a review for general readers:

When I wrote this opening sentence in a review of David Macaulay’s
Shortcut
for the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
, I consciously used a reference to the Caldecott Medal because I assumed that most adult readers would recognize it as significant, even if they had never heard of David Macaulay. I also used the adjectives “popular” and “innovative” to describe his books not only because they are appropriate but because I thought they would be likely to pique a general reader’s interest. I wanted to make the casual reader stop and think: “Hmmm, what sort of books are popular with kids today? What is considered innovative?”

One of the first things readers see when they look at a review is the title of the book. You may want to open a review by making some reference to the title, particularly if it is intriguingly unusual.

Deborah Stevenson does this effectively in her review of Jeremy Tankard’s
Me Hungry!
:

Stevenson manages to explain the book’s premise and odd title in just one sentence that also tells us when the book is set, who the main character is, and that the story is comical.

The majority of reviews in professional journals begin with a descriptive account of the book itself. These need not be dry summations, however. Notice how effectively Roger Sutton describes the plot of Alexandra Day’s picture book
Carl’s Summer Vacation
:

Sutton’s opening sentence works both for those familiar with the series and characters, and those who are not, by implying that these two are accustomed to trouble, and his list of what they get into suggests fast-paced action, as well as the characters’ attitude toward events.

Another technique for an opening is to launch right into a critical analysis and then go on to use descriptive statements as examples. This is how Ilene Cooper approaches Rebecca and Ed Emberley’s retelling of
Chicken Little
:

Note that Cooper’s words do double duty, providing description and analysis simultaneously. Her prose style also echoes the playful nature of the retelling to give readers a clear sense of the book’s essence, and her tone shows that she expects the readers to know the story so they can appreciate the humor of the Emberleys’ interpretation.

No matter what sort of opening you use, your review should include a mix of descriptive and analytical statements so that readers will know what the book is about and what you thought of it. It should be clear to them whether you recommend the book or not. Do not be afraid to express your opinion, as long as you can back it up with evidence from the book.

Many readers, particularly librarians and teachers, appreciate comments about a book’s popular appeal or suggestions of how it might be shared with children. They like to know if a novel would make a good classroom read aloud for fourth graders or if a picture book would work well in a toddler story hour. Be as specific as possible. Comments such as “Will appeal to everyone” are meaningless while those such as “Will appeal to Lemony Snicket fans” tell readers something definite about the subject, scope, and reading level. Of course, you don’t have to make predictions about a book’s appeal, and it is better to say nothing at all than to make vague or inaccurate guesses.

In all professional journals and in many popular publications, reviewers are expected to indicate an age range for the book’s target audience. This judgment should be based on your own knowledge of children’s responses to literature and your assessment of the book itself, not the ages suggested by the publisher.

REVISING AND REFINING

Once you have the first rough draft down on paper, read it over critically. Is there too much description? Not enough? Did you forget to mention something important? Do you notice anything in it that is clever for its own sake? Or is the review simply too long?

Take a look at how your sentences are structured. Can any of them be condensed and combined? Look for any forms of the verb “to be”—a weak verb (unless you’re Shakespeare). If you can replace it with a strong one, you will improve your review by saying the same thing in fewer words. For example:

can be changed to:

Look for redundancies. Have you said the same thing in two different ways? In the above example, I was able to delete the word “girl” because the character’s personal name makes her gender clear. When you are reviewing a nonfiction book, its title often specifies content that you do not need to repeat. Marfé Ferguson Delano’s
Helen’s Eyes: A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller’s Teacher
provides a good example.

If you feel that your writing is perfect and the review is still too long, you are simply going to have to cut out a sentence or two. Read the review over one more time to find the lines that can be deleted without losing an important point or aspect. The skill with which Deborah Stevenson, Roger Sutton, and Ilene Cooper write reviews comes from their years of
experience as professional reviewers and writers. Each one writes with a distinctive style that owes its liveliness to a use of clear, simple English. As a novice reviewer, you may find it helpful to read and analyze their reviews (and those of other professional reviewers), thinking critically about how they structure them and noting the verbs and adjectives they use. With practice, experience, and perseverance, you will sharpen your own skills.

The critic John Rowe Townsend says, “Good reviewers of children’s books are probably scarcer than good writers of them. And it is almost as necessary that there should be good and effective writing about children’s books as that there should be good children’s books. Conceivably, indeed, it is necessary in order that there should continue to
be
good children’s books.”

Welcome.

Brackets around page numbers indicate that the book did not include printed page numbers.

C
HAPTER
1: A C
RITICAL
A
PPROACH TO
C
HILDREN’S
B
OOKS

C
ITATIONS

Phillip Hoose quote p. 17 from
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
, p. 186.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti quote p. 19 from
Hitler Youth
, p. 162.

S
OURCES

Aronson, Marc. “Do Books Still Matter?”
School Library Journal
53:4 (April 2007), pp. 36–39.

Briley, Dorothy. “The Impact of Reviewing on Children’s Book Publishing,” in
Evaluating Children’s Books: A Critical Look
, edited by Betsy Hearne and Roger Sutton. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, 1993, pp. 105–17.

Dessauer, John P.
Book Publishing: The Basic Introduction
. New expanded ed. New York: Continuum, 1989.

Dresang, Eliza T.
Radical Change: Books for Youth in a Digital Age
. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1999.

Giblin, James Cross.
Writing Books for Young People
. New ed. Boston: The Writer, 1998.

Heppermann, Christine. “Reading in the Virtual Forest,”
The Horn Book
76:6 (November/December 2000), pp. 687–92.

Karl, Jean E.
How to Write and Sell Children’s Picture Books
. Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 1994.

Litowinsky, Olga.
It’s a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: A Writer’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today’s Competitive Children’s Book Market
. New York: Walker, 2001.

—.
Writing and Publishing Books for Children in the 1990s: The Inside Story from the Editor’s Desk
. New York: Walker, 1992.

Marcus, Leonard S.
Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children’s Literature
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

McElderry, Margaret K. “Remarkable Women: Anne Carroll Moore & Company,”
School Library Journal
38:3 (March, 1992), pp. 156–62.

McNamara, Shelley G. “Early Public Library Work with Children,”
Top of the News
43:1 (Fall 1986), pp. 59–72.

Rosen, Judith. “Taking Steps into the Digital Future,”
Publishers Weekly
256 (February 16, 2009), pp. 17–19.

C
HILDREN’S
B
OOK
C
ITED

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell.
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow
. New York: Scholastic, 2005.

Harris, Robie H.
It’s NOT the Stork! A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends.
Illustrated by Michael Emberley. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2006.

Hoose, Phillip.
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004.

Raven, Margot Theis.
Let Them Play
. Illustrated by Chris Ellison. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear, 2005.

CHAPTER 2: BOOKS OF INFORMATION

C
ITATIONS

Jean Fritz quote p. 25 from “Biography: Readability and Responsibility,” p. 759.

Laurence Pringle quote p. 39 from:
Alligators and Crocodiles!
, p. [1].

Kadir Nelson quote p. 40 from
We Are the Ship
, p. 2.

Sid Fleischman quote p. 41 from
The Trouble Begins at 8
, p. 87.

Sally M. Walker quote pp. 41–42 from
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine
, p. 89.

Milton Meltzer quote p. 42 from “Beyond Fact,” p. 30.

Walter Dean Myers quote pp. 42–43 from
Now Is Your Time!
, p. 71.

Tanya Lee Stone quote p. 43 from
Almost Astronauts
, p. 87.

Jim Murphy quote p. 46 from
An American Plague
, p. 142.

S
OURCES

Broadway, Marsha D., and Malia Howland. “Science Books for Young People: Who Writes Them?”
School Library Journal
37:5 (May 1991), pp. 35–38.

Carter, Betty. “Reviewing Nonfiction for Children: Stance, Scholarship and Structure,” in
Evaluating Children’s Books: A Critical Look
, edited by Betsy Hearne and Roger Sutton. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, 1993, pp. 59–71.

Carter, Betty, and Richard F. Abrahamson.
Nonfiction for Young Adults:
From Delight to Wisdom
. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, 1990.

Epstein, Connie C. “Accuracy in Nonfiction,”
School Library Journal
33:7 (March 1987), pp. 113–15.

Faust, Susan. “In Quest of Excellence: The Sibert Committee Looks at 14 Qualities of a Truly Distinguished Information Book,”
School Library Journal
47:6 (June 2001), pp. 42–43.

Freedman, Russell. “On Telling the Truth,”
Booklist
95:2 (September 15, 1998), pp. 224–25.

Fritz, Jean. “Biography: Readability and Responsibility,”
The Horn Book
64:6 (November/December 1988), pp. 759–60.

Giblin, James Cross. “More Than Just Facts: A Hundred Years of Children’s Nonfiction,”
The Horn Book
76:4 (July/August 2000), pp. 413–24.

—. “The Rise and Fall and Rise of Juvenile Nonfiction, 1961–1988,”
School Library Journal
35:2 (October 1988), pp. 27–31.

Hunt, Jonathan. “Where Do All the Prizes Go?: Thoughts on the State of Informational Books,”
The Horn Book
81:4 (July/August 2005), pp. 439–45.

Isaacs, Kathleen. “Truth in Information Books,”
School Library Journal
51:7 (July 2005), pp. 28–29.

Meltzer, Milton. “Beyond Fact,” in
Beyond Fact: Nonfiction for Children and Young People
. Edited by Jo Carr. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982.

—. “Where Do All the Prizes Go? The Case for Nonfiction,”
The Horn Book
52:1 (February 1976), pp. 17–23.

Millhouser, Frances. “Beautiful Science: Books That Cash in on Children’s Curiosity,”
School Library Journal
37:5 (May 1991), pp. 47–48.

Wilson, Sandip. “Getting Down to Facts in Children’s Nonfiction Literature: A Case for the Importance of Sources,”
Journal of Children’s Literature
32:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 56–63.

C
HILDREN’S
B
OOKS
C
ITED

Bishop, Nic.
Spiders
. New York: Scholastic, 2007.

Blumberg, Rhoda.
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun
. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1985.

Burns, Loree Griffin.
Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

Cole, Joanna.
The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
. Illustrated by Bruce Degen. New York: Scholastic, 1990.

Cowley, Joy.
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
. Photographs by Nic Bishop. New York: Scholastic, 1999.

Crosby, Jeff, and Shelley Ann Jackson.
Little Lions, Bull Baiters & Hunting Hounds: A History of Dog Breeds
. Plattsburgh, NY: Tundra, 2008.

Fleischman, Sid.
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini
. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2006.

—.
The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West.
New York: Greenwillow Books, 2008.

Fleming, Candace.
The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary.
New York: Schwartz & Wade Books/Random House, 2008.

Freedman, Russell.
Lincoln: A Photobiography
. New York: Clarion Books, 1987.

—.
Who Was First? Discovering the Americas
. New York: Clarion Books, 2007.

Gerstein, Mordicai.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook, 2003.

Gibbons, Gail.
My Baseball Book
. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

—.
My Basketball Book
. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

—.
My Football Book
. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

—.
My Soccer Book
. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

Jackson, Ellen.
The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes.
Photographs and illustrations by Nic Bishop. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

Jenkins, Steve, and Robin Page.
Sisters & Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

Krensky, Stephen.
Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books
. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2008.

Kuklin, Susan.
Families
. New York: Hyperion, 2006.

Lasky, Kathryn.
Sugaring Time
. Photographs by Christopher G. Knight. New York: Macmillan, 1983.

Lauber, Patricia.
Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helen’s
. New York: Bradbury, 1986.

Levine, Karen.
Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story.
Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman, 2003.

Lutes, Jason, and Nick Bertozzi.
Houdini: The Handcuff King
. New York: Hyperion, 2007.

Madden, Kerry.
Harper Lee: Up Close.
New York: Viking Children’s Books, 2009.

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs.
Snowflake Bentley
. Illustrated by Mary Azarian. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Meltzer, Milton.
Never to Forget: The Jews of the Holocaust
. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.

Murphy, Jim.
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
. New York: Clarion Books, 2003.

Myers, Walter Dean.
Now Is Your Time!: The African-American Struggle for Freedom
. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Nelson, Kadir.
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
. New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2008.

Nelson, Scott Reynolds, with Marc Aronson.
Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry
. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008.

Pringle, Laurence.
Alligators and Crocodiles!: Strange and Wonderful
.
Illustrated by Meryl Henderson. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills, 2009.

Sattler, Helen Roney.
Hominids: A Look Back at Our Ancestors
. Illustrated by Christopher Santoro. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1988.

Siegel, Siena Cherson.
To Dance: A Memoir
. Illustrated by Mark Siegel. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Simon, Seymour.
Destination: Jupiter.
New York: William Morrow, 1998.

St. George, Judith.
So You Want to Be President?
Illustrated by David Small. New York: Philomel Books, 2000.

Stone, Tanya Lee.
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream
. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2009

Thimmesh, Catherine.
Lucy Long Ago: Uncovering the Mystery of Where We Came From
. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Thomas, Shelley Moore.
A Baby’s Coming to Your Hous
e! Photographs by Eric Futran. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman, 2001.

Turner, Pamela S.
Life on Earth—and Beyond: An Astrobiologist’s Quest
. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2008.

Walker, Sally M.
Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley
. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2005.

—.
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland.
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2009.

Winick, Judd.
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned
. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

CHAPTER 3: TRADITIONAL LITERATURE

C
ITATIONS

Betsy Hearne quote p. 54 from “Cite the Source: Reducing Cultural Chaos in Picture Books, Part One,” p. 27.

Betsy Hearne quote p. 54 from “Swapping Tales and Stealing Stories: The
Ethics and Aesthetics of Folklore in Children’s Literature,” p. 512.

Kevin Crossley-Holland quote p. 55 from
British Folk Tales: New Version
, p. 374.

Margaret Willey quote p. 57 from
The 3 Bears and Goldilocks
, p. [11].

Julius Lester quote p. 58 from
John Henry
, p. [12].

Margaret Read MacDonald quote pp. 58–59 from
Mabela the Clever
, p. [20].

John Bierhorst quote p. 59 from
The White Deer, and Other Stories Told from the Lenape
, p. 21.

Joseph Bruchac quote p. 60 from
The Girl Who Married the Moon
, p. 29.

Julie Cummins quote p. 66 from “Fractured Fairy Tales: Spin-Offs, Spoofs, and Satires,” p. 51.

S
OURCES

Cipielewski, James F. “What Tales Do We Tell of the Twentieth Century? Folktales and Fairy Tales Prosper,” in
Children’s Literature Remembered: Issues, Trends, and Favorite Books
. Edited by Linda M. Pavonetti. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004, pp. 49–64.

Cummins, Julie. “Fractured Fairy Tales: Spin-Offs, Spoofs, and Satires,”
School Library Journal
43:10 (October 1997), pp. 50–51.

Hearne, Betsy. “Cite the Source: Reducing Cultural Chaos in Picture Books, Part One,”
School Library Journal
39:7 (July 1993), pp. 22–27.

—. “Respect the Source: Reducing Cultural Chaos in Picture Books, Part Two,”
School Library Journal
39:8 (August 1993), pp. 33–37.

—. “Swapping Tales and Stealing Stories: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Folklore in Children’s Literature,”
Library Trends
47:3 (Winter 1999), pp. 509–28.

Hepler, Susan. “Fooling Around with Folktales,”
School Library Journal
53:6 (June 2007), pp. 55–59.

Miller-Lachmann, Lyn. “Multicultural Publishing: The Folktale Flood,”
School Library Journal
40:2 (February 1994), pp. 35–36.