There are many different types of selection tools available for children’s librarians to use in the development of the collection. This post will focus on five different selection tools that can be used for building a collection for 0-4 year-olds: The Horn Book Guide, School Library Journal, Booklist, The Children’s Book Review, and Kirkus.
Description of Five Selection Tools
Booklist
Booklist is published by the American Library
Association twice monthly. The reviews offered in the print magazine are intended to help
librarians choose books and audiovisual materials for all ages, as well as to help
readers choose what they should read. Reviewers include teachers, librarians,
archivists, authors, and journalists. 
Booklist also publishes Book Links, a quarterly supplement that is intended to be used by librarians,
curriculum coordinators, teachers, and reading specialists to help with choosing high-quality literature for
children of all ages.The supplement also offers articles with ideas for using books in the classroom, activities to promote the enjoyment of reading, and interviews with authors and illustrators. Subscribers to Booklist also receive access to online materials and a monthly e-newsletter. Reviews included connect directly to article subjects. Annotated bibliographies offer summaries of the books, along with other important information, including author / illustrator name(s), grade level, publisher information, ISBN, book list price, and the number of pages.
The Children’s Book
Review
The Children’s Book Review is an online resource that
publishes reviews of fiction and nonfiction books and audiovisual materials, as well as book lists for children of all ages. The Review also
publishes literacy-based articles and author/illustrator interviews for
parents, teachers, and librarians. Review submissions are accepted from authors, illustrators, publishers and publicists. All
reviews included in the publication are of a positive nature, and materials for review are assessed according to "literary value, illustrative quality, and overall presentation". Five dedicated reviews are offered each month, which offer a professional review of at least 250 words. Author book reviews are also included in an "Author Showcase" section, and are written by the author about his/her own book. Reviews on the site are searchable according to subject, genre, and age categories for children ages 0-12. Access toThe Children’s Book Review issues, new and archived, is free of charge. No subscription is required; however, a free subscription is required in order to receive the e-newsletter. Reviews and articles are constantly updated on the website, rather than "issues" being released.
The Horn Book
The Horn Book was founded in 1924, and remains one of the most esteemed journals for children's and young adult literature published in the United States. The print magazine is published bimonthly and offers reviews of eighty titles per issue, including books and audiobooks. Books are chosen for review according to "plot, theme, characterization, and style". Reviews are written by magazine staff and guest reviewers, which include teachers, librarians, and editors. The Horn Book also includes articles, commentaries, and other information on children's literature. Reviews are divided into picture books, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and audio books.
The Horn Book publishes an e-newsletter called "Notes from The Horn Book", as well as a blog
written by the editor, and offers applications for mobile devices. The Horn Book Guide, also published by The Horn Book, is published in print twice per year. The Guide includes reviews of books released in hardback over the prior six
months, for a total of more than 2,000 titles per issue. The Hornbook Guide is also available for online access by subscribers, and offers a searchable online database of reviews written between 1989 to 2005.Kirkus
Founded in 1933, today, Kirkus publishes a print magazine, website, email newsletter, and several review blogs. The print magazine, Kirkus Reviews, is published on the 1st and 15th of each month, and reviews books for all ages. The magazine is sent to more than 5,000 bookstore buyers, publishers, agents, librarians, and others with book industry authority. Kirkus currently reviews more than 7,000 traditionally published books and more than 3,000 self-published titles each year. Reviews published by Kirkus have an authoritative tone. Books that are eligible for review selection must be submitted 3-4 months prior to their publication date to be considered. Small, independent, and self-published titles are eligible for review consideration through the Kirkus Indie program. Books of merit are awarded the "Kirkus Star" and are listed as recommended titles in Kirkus' publications. Kirkus' website, kirkusreviews.com, is searchable according to genre, age range, release date, and review level. Interviews, profiles, and blogs are also accessible through the Kirkus website.
School Library Journal
http://www.slj.com/
School Library Journal debuted in 1954, and today reaches an audience of over 100,000 with its reviews of high-quality materials, articles, and resources for librarians in school and public libraries. Reviews in the monthly print magazine are published in a section called "The Book Review". Reviews are divided into ages categories: preschool-4th grade, grades 5 and up, and teens. The
Journal also offers subscribers an online searchable database of reviews dating back to
1987, which are divided between the same age groups. Reviews of children's and young adult content (primarily books, but also audio, video, and internet related) are written by more than 300 public librarians, school media
specialists, teachers, professors, and reading specialists. Reviews often include relevant information for use in the classroom or library program. Other titles are often listed with reviews as companions to the reviewed work. Reviews are based on "literary quality, artistic merit, clarity of presentation, and appeal to the intended audience". Starred reviews are provided for books that are deemed to be exceptional, with all reviews being assigned to reviewers by the Book Review Editors.
School Library Journal debuted in 1954, and today reaches an audience of over 100,000 with its reviews of high-quality materials, articles, and resources for librarians in school and public libraries. Reviews in the monthly print magazine are published in a section called "The Book Review". Reviews are divided into ages categories: preschool-4th grade, grades 5 and up, and teens. The
Journal also offers subscribers an online searchable database of reviews dating back to
1987, which are divided between the same age groups. Reviews of children's and young adult content (primarily books, but also audio, video, and internet related) are written by more than 300 public librarians, school media
specialists, teachers, professors, and reading specialists. Reviews often include relevant information for use in the classroom or library program. Other titles are often listed with reviews as companions to the reviewed work. Reviews are based on "literary quality, artistic merit, clarity of presentation, and appeal to the intended audience". Starred reviews are provided for books that are deemed to be exceptional, with all reviews being assigned to reviewers by the Book Review Editors. Comparison of Selection Tools
Each of the selection tools above provides pertinent information that can be used in choosing children's materials for a library's collection. Booklist, The Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal have existed for decades in print, while The Children's Book Review is relatively new to the scene, and exists solely online. The Children's Book Review is also the only one out of the five publications that is free to use. Subscriptions are required for each of the other four publications, including online access to searchable databases.
Booklist, which is published by the American Library Association, targets librarians as its primary audience and so its terminology, tone, and language are all focused predominantly in that direction. Because the reviews included in The Horn Book are written mostly by staff reviewers for a pretty wide audience, readers are able to become familiar with the style of each reviewer, and there is less of a "targeted population" tone. Kirkus Reviews began as a publication for bookstores, but over time, has become as equally focused on libraries. While each of the other tools offer reviews of relevant audiovisual materials, Kirkus focuses entirely on books. There are more reviews of adult titles in Kirkus, while Booklist includes reviews of both adult and children's materials, and The Children’s Book Review, The Horn Book and School Library Journal each focus entirely on young adult and children's materials.
Book Reviews
(in the style of The Horn Book)
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons
by Eric Litwin; illus. by James Dean
Preschool HarperCollins 40 pp.
5/12 978-0062110589 $16.99
Pete the Cat is back again, and he's making math and counting fun. Pete always has a message to share in his books, and this time is no different. Pete is wearing his favorite yellow shirt with four groovy buttons. One by one, the buttons pop off and roll away. "Does Pete cry? Goodness, no! Buttons come, and buttons go". Listeners are once again pulled into the story through the rhythm of the text, repeating lines, and participating in subtraction as Pete loses each one of his "groovy" buttons. In the end, all four roll away as listeners subtract the buttons one by one. Through Pete's experience, he teaches more than simple subtraction. He shows us that in life, "stuff will come and stuff will go", and that's just life; it's up to us to keep a positive attitude when change happens.
The Lion and the Mouse
by Jerry Pinkney; illus. by the author
Preschool Little, Brown 40 pp.
9/09 978-0316013567 $16.99
In this beautifully illustrated update to an old story, no text is needed to understand what happens. A mouse scampers across a field, narrowly escaping the talons of a large owl screeching across the sky. As the mouse looks for a place to hide among the glorious golden field, he ends up on the back of a lion. The reader can see there is danger, and the soft illustrations add to the compelling mystery of what the lion will do as the pages are turned. The message of this timeless tale has stood the test of time-- through an unlikely friendship, the two characters remind us of the importance of kindness and returning favors.
Kitten's First Full Moon
by Kevin Henkes; illus. by the author
Preschool Greenwillow 40 pp.
3/04 978-0060588281 $17.99
Through the simplicity of blacks, grays, and white, Henkes tells the story of a little, white kitten who mistakes the big, fell moon for a bowl of milk. She tries to lap it up, when a firefly lands on her tongue. The moon (bowl of milk) remains just out of reach. Henkes uses clever expressions on the face of the kitten to bring in humor, and to convey the kitten's confusion as she continues her quest to consume the moon. In the end, the kitten's efforts are not made entirely in vain. There's a bowl of mil waiting on the porch, just for her.
by Kevin Henkes; illus. by the author
Preschool Greenwillow 40 pp.
3/04 978-0060588281 $17.99
Through the simplicity of blacks, grays, and white, Henkes tells the story of a little, white kitten who mistakes the big, fell moon for a bowl of milk. She tries to lap it up, when a firefly lands on her tongue. The moon (bowl of milk) remains just out of reach. Henkes uses clever expressions on the face of the kitten to bring in humor, and to convey the kitten's confusion as she continues her quest to consume the moon. In the end, the kitten's efforts are not made entirely in vain. There's a bowl of mil waiting on the porch, just for her.
by Denise Fleming; illus. by the author
Preschool Henry Holt 32 pp.
8/10 978-0805081267 $16.99
Fleming uses her pulp paper creations paired with simple text to tell the story of sleepy creatures. The soft textures of the art create the scene for sleepiness among animals found in their natural habitats. All the while, the repeating text, "sleepy, oh so sleepy" lulls the listener into their own state of relaxation. The end of this sweet story of sleep finds the human baby drifting off to sleep in a world full of sleeping babies.
Dancing Feet!
by Lindsay Craig; illus. by Marc Brown
Preschool Knopf Books 40 pp.
5/10 978-0375861819 $16.99
Listeners are given rhythmic clues and asked to guess who it is who might be dancing. Each dancing animal is revealed through colorful collages, which are accompanied by rhyming text. Read aloud, the text in Craig's book causes the reader to want to move with the beat as the animals dance across the pages.
*Note: all book cover images are from Amazon.com and link to the site. All review tools are take from their respective websites, and link back to each site.
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