From: Brenda_Bowen at prenhall.com <Brenda_Bowen>
Date: 13 Sep 1998 14:51:58 -0400

A little off the topic of picture book reviewing, but since someone
     brought up the question of whether the book would have been published
     if Raschka hadn't had a track record:
     
     Let's remember Chris Raschka's first book, CHARLIE PARKER PLAYED BE
     BOP. No track record there, and an impossibly difficult book to
     market, but published it was, by Dick Jackson at Orchard Books.
     Venturesome creativity will out when it's this brilliant -- which is,
     I think, what Betsy Hearne ultimately conveyed in her review.
     
     Another question on reviews to reviewers: Can you clue us in to the
     "starring" process a little bit? I know reviewers' stars are
     sometimes *not* endorsed by their review publication; but are stars
     ever *added* to an originally non-starred review? Do you (reviewers)
     have different "starring criteria" for different journals? And -- do
     you ever regret reviews, either your positivity or your negativity?
     Is there any way to redress a regretted review?
     
     Brenda Bowen
     Simon & Schuster
Received on Sun 13 Sep 1998 01:51:58 PM CDT