Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory

114 Pages·2009·0.83 MB·English

by  Brad Hooper

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•  Tips for writing strong, relevant reviews ie
•  Different ways reviews can be used to promote your library W
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•   A chapter by Joyce Saricks covering the how-tos of reviewing  f
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Whether the ultimate goal is writing for a library website, book club,  a
or monthly handout, or freelancing for a newspaper, magazine, or d
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professional journal, readers will find plenty of ideas and insight here. r for readers' advisory
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You may also be interested in o
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www.alastore.ala.org
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American Library Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
ISBN 978-0-8389-1017-7
1-866-SHOP ALA A
(1-866-746-7252) L Brad hooper
9 780838 910177 A
www.alastore.ala.org
with a chapter by Joyce saricks
Writing revieWs
for readers’ advisory
Other BOOklist PuBlicatiOns
Reid’s Read-Alouds: Selections
for Children and Teens, by Rob Reid
The Back Page, by Bill Ott
Writing revieWs
for
readers’ advisory
Brad Hooper
AmericAn LibrAry AssociAtion
chicago 2010
Brad hooper, Adult Books Editor at Booklist, the review journal for
public and school librarians published in Chicago by the American
Library Association, is responsible for overseeing the adult book review-
ing program at Booklist. He has a bachelor of arts in European history
and a master of science in library science, both degrees from Eastern
Illinois University, and he has done graduate work in European history
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He regularly speaks
about reviewing to librarian and publisher groups and has conducted
review-writing workshops for public librarians across the country. He
is the author of The Short Story Readers’ Advisory (American Library
Association, 2000); The Fiction of Ellen Gilchrist (Praeger, 2005); Read
On . . . Historical Fiction (Libraries Unlimited, 2006); and The Fiction of
Alice Munro (Praeger, 2008).
While extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of information appearing in
this book, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, on the accuracy or reli-
ability of the information, and does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any
person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in this publication.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hooper, Brad.
Writing reviews for readers’ advisory / Brad Hooper.
p. cm. — (A Booklist publication)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8389-1017-7 (alk. paper)
1. Book reviewing. 2. Readers’ advisory services. I. Title.
PN98.B7H66 2010
808'.066028—dc22 2009049528
Copyright © 2010 by the American Library Association. All rights reserved except those
which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8389-1017-7
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
To Brendan Driscoll,
who will always be my buddy.
To Jerry Eberle,
my assistant and great friend.
And to the participants
in my review-writing workshops,
who helped me hone my thoughts
on reviewing.

Book reviewers are the most despicable, loathsome order
of swine that ever rooted about the earth. They are snivel-
ing, revolting creatures who feed their own appetites for
bile by gnawing apart other people’s work.
—Steve Hely, How I Became a Famous Novelist

CONTENTS
PrEfaCE xi
1 marketing through reviewing 1
2 reviews versus criticism 5
3 two Kinds of reviews: before Publication
and After Publication 15
4 What is in a book review? 23
5 What makes a Good review? 43
6 What makes a Good reviewer? 55
7 review-Writing Workshops 65
8 Writing Audiobook reviews 71
by Joyce saricks
aPPENdixES
A Writing Annotations 81
B my Favorite reviewers 83
BiBliOgraPhy 89
iNdEx 91
ix