More About Style

The styles of book reviews differ between the five journals. The review process, as Virginia Woolf succinctly writes is to "partly to sort current literature; partly to advertise the author; partly to inform the public." (Horning, 165) Today it is much the same. For every book released there are dozens of reviews released by large publishing houses, journals such as the big five, and ordinary people. Each with a purpose and style.

The Horn Book Magazine's writing always meets a certain style and tends to be longer in length giving more comprehensive reviews. The reviewers usually discuss text, illustrations, and context. In addition, the Horn Book Magazine limits the summaries of each book review. Whereas, other reviews sometimes will use the storyline as a predominate part of the review. The style of The School Library Journal, The Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books tend to be shorter and tend to contain more summary and analysis of the illustrations. This seems to serve a more commercial interest, after all it is the book business. In addition, shorter reviews appeal to librarians and other buyers whose eyes tire after looking at the multitude of various reviews or have to make timely decisions without much time.

Another 'variance of information' provided is in the question of if the reviewer addresses the possible uses of a book. The Horn Book Magazine's reviews, at least the one's that I've seen, also mention practicality of the books for serving, educating, or entertaining children. Some reviews place the telling of the book in a public storytelling sphere which is a different than the intimate telling of a story prior to bed. In other cases, the phrase "bedtime", as seen in the School Library Journal, might indicate that a public librarian's collection development should not have the related book on top of the buying list. Specifically, these points seem to assist librarians or collection development with decision making and determining if the book is a possible book for a public collection.

In addition, some book reviews (such as the Horn Book Magazine) also mention the direct effects on children a given book may exert. For example, the book review for "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" jumps to the possible impact of allowing the children to act as rule makers and enforces rather than trouble makers. This strongly contrasts with the review for the same book given by a reviewer at The Kirkus Reviews. In that review, the reader "relates with the helplessness of the bird." This, and the concluding statement that it'll have listeners "lying and bribing to hear it again", are statements that would not be found in the Horn Book Magazine or School Library Journal. Yes, these seem to be the jive words for a different audience.

Another point that was made tangible through recently the well-discussed, if not a bit over discussed, book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"was interpretation of the book's conclusion. The pigeon does not get to drive the bus, owing to the readers success, but see's a red tractor and his mind begins to play that tape over again. The message differs between reviewers who each offer their own interpretation. For The Kirkus Reviews the conclusion is "just like any young person he's quickly distracted..." while the School Library Journal perceives the end's distraction to be a sign that the pigeon "dare to dream again."

One important point for a wide inclusive type of collection development is that some journals that offer great reviews, such as The Horn Book Magazine, do not review every book. Another matter which shows differences that does affect the coverage is the issue of book choice and which books make it to the reviewers desks'. One difference that is revealed in the reviews, or actually the lack of review, is that books are preselected and fit into a certain criteria. Certain books are overlooked if the merit or value is not deemed to be notable. For some of the books that I sought out to compare and contrast there was no mention of their existence in the Horn Book Magazine. Booklist is another that only publishes recommend-only reviews. Whereas, others like Kirkus Reviews provided more reviews for various types of books: those with faults and those with merits. The lack of reviews for certain books, as with Horn Book Magazine, could be taken as professionalism or snobbery.

The matter of age group also differ between review sources. There isn't a age division that is set in stone for all reviewers to refer to. It seems that this is because of the variance within ages and stages of development. Some books would state that a book is appropriate for a preschool/primary audience, while another would state 3-5, another 3-6, another undetermined for the database page, and another preschool to grade 2. The association of grade seems geared specifically to the education directed reviews (i.e. School Library Journal). It would be ideally convenient to seek out books for the 0-4 age group.

If I was in the position to make selection choices, I would constantly use various selection tools. I like the formality of the School Library Journal. I would like to think that the books that are recommended are educationally acceptable in nature and are assets to a collection (even if the reviews are sometimes lacking). The well-written reviews of the Horn Book Magazine would also be useful especially for a collection that just has funding for the bare minimal. Perhaps, if there was more funding to draw out of then the Kirkus Reviews would be helpful since it offers more reviews.

Then there is the matter of what type of collection this would be? Perhaps, at a library or bookstore? Each can has different needs so the selection tool will differ. For a bookstore, due to its volume the Kirkus Reviews would be a good choice for selecting children's materials. While for school or libraries, the School Library Journal, Horn Book Magazine, BCCB, or Booklist would be good selection tools.

In addition to the formal reviews that make the publications, I would rely heavily on some of the blogs written by reviewers (both independent and associated with certain journals). Even the journals which offer the best and most thorough book reviews can not publish every book. It is too expensive. Hence, the beauty of the blog. Plus, there are many blog writers who do a terrific job at reviewing children's books out of pure love for children's literature.