From: Judith O'Malley <jomalley>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 15:06:05 -0500

Ilene Cooper has asked that I post her response to the discussion of picture-book reviews, and specifically, longer, in?pth reviews of books like _Arlene Sardine_ Judy O'Malley


The Booklist staff had quite a different opinion of Arlene Sardine. The Focus in the September 1 issue appears under my byline, but the opinion was unanimous (and that included two working librarians/reviewers who happened to be in the office that day.) I, too, welcome the luxury of being able to write longer reviews in our Focus columns. As you know, Booklist, while certainly incorporting criticism in our reviews, maintains a
"recommended only" policy. Occasionally, however, we use the Focus column as a place to review books we do not recommend. In general, these are books we feel will be heavily discussed, and want to get our opinion on recond. For us, Arlene Sardine was such a book.

Ilene Cooper
Received on Mon 14 Sep 1998 03:06:05 PM CDT