CCBC-Net Archives

Re: Up for discussion in November: Reviewers Choice? Reading (and Writing) Professional Reviews

From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:37:49 -0500

I think much of the tension over reviewing, authenticity, accuracy, point of view comes because most reviewers are much more grounded in their know ledge of books and kids then in the subjects of the books (especially nonf iction books) themselves.

Reviewing books for younger readers involves a number of different skills: the reviewer must know something about how young people of that age group read (what they enjoy, surely, but also what can catch their interest, wh at they will find difficult, what they find rewarding with effort); how bo oks are used in schools and libraries; how the book fits in with the fiel d of children's literature (that is both, where does the book fit in the canon, and, what does it compete with on existing shelves). These are ski lls that any professional trained in children's literature and who has wor ked with young people should have. The problem is that, outside of all of these questions of readership and utility the reviewer also has to addres s something harder to define -- value, excellence, pure literary merit or intellectual accomplishment. That is where the grind comes -- having expe rience with kids does not mean you are "up" on the latest developments in history, the most recent critiques of one cultural point of
 view or anoth er. Of course authors and publishers do their best to spell out the justif ications for their work in notes and citations, but a reviewer not convers ant with that literature (and who does not have the luxury to read through the backmatter) is left to rely on his or her sense of how ship shape it looks.

I often wish we had two kinds of reviews (again especially for NF, but not only): first a notice -- essentially what we have now -- an evaluation of how this book fits with kids, needs, and children's literature. Then a more considered essay where a reviewer and an expert could dig in, exam ine, really look at a work that an author has spent years crafting to real ly look under the hood, see how it works, what it does. Of course only a few books would get that space. But even those examplers would open up ho w we look at books -- what is there to be found.

Marc Aronson
Received on Tue 10 Nov 2009 10:37:49 AM CST