Comparing Selection Tools

Being completely unfamiliar with these selection tools my research started at the absolute beginning—examining the foundations of each selection tool, corresponding mission statements, and asking many ‘what’ questions. In addition to being a complete tenderfoot, as well as an occasional addlebrained ignoramus, I decided to take on the five largest selection tools. The Five Biggies seem to be: Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Review, and School Library Journal.

The task of deconstructing professional deconstructors is very challenging. So, that is not recommended and should be avoided. One thing that I noticed is that book reviews do not stand independently from the given journals or selection tools. Book review authors might object to this point if taken literally, but that is not my intent. Book reviews fit the publication, so to speak. Reviews are written by professional writers that know the audience that they are writing for. In addition, the reviews that make the print (so to speak) are chosen for certain reasons. Perhaps, I’ll return to this at a later date.

To assist in determining a given tools usefulness and coverage of materials for this age range, the following bullet list was used to provide framework for the examination. Since these are the five biggies, it would be safe to assume the published book reviews and linked writing is accomplished, distinctive, noted, and generally tip-top in their given stratums. So, more time will be spent scrutinizing web pages and generalities.

• ·      General history
• ·      Frequency of publication
• ·      The Rating system
• ·      Output of Reviews
• ·      Who uses it
• ·      Reviewers
• ·      Types of Reviews
• ·      Online services/ journal access

Again, these are the five biggies and all are useful in covering the materials for this age range. Most have a rich history of publications and a long record of service to the book sectors. This seems to be time worn evidence of popular usage. It seems that the decision of which is best may be a matter of preference and might depend on the purpose of use.