Annual Policy Statement 2007

On behalf of SLJ’s editors and its publisher, I thank all of our 300+ reviewers who, with us, continue to seek out books that excite, and engage, stimulate, and challenge young people. It is their willingness to share their time and their professional experience with colleagues everywhere that keeps School Library Journal’s Book Review influential, practical, and reliable.

SLJ reviewed more than 4400 books in 2006. Having completed our 52nd year of publication, we continue to be the most comprehensive review journal of new general trade books for children and young adults. SLJ’s Book Review publishes its annual policy statement in order to restate our purpose and bring to your attention any changes in our practices.

We are committed to publishing concise, critical reviews to help SLJ’s readers make informed acquisition decisions for their libraries. SLJ does not review reissues, textbooks, or self-published books. For an archive of our reviews back to 1987, subscribers are invited to search our database on www.slj.com/reviews by author, title, Dewey number, and other options. SLJ’s reviews are written by librarians working directly with children and young adults in schools or public libraries, library-school educators, teachers of children’s literature, and subject specialists. They evaluate books in terms of literary quality, artistic merit, clarity of presentation, and appeal to the intended audience. They also make comparisons between new titles and materials already available in most collections and mention curriculum connections. All books are assigned by the Book Review Editors.

We recognize that reading levels and interests vary from one community to another, so we keep age-level categories as broad as possible. However, we rarely repeat the phrase so often seen on book jackets—“for all ages”—since it carries publishers’ sales expectations rather than relevant information for library selection. Instead, grade levels are assigned by reviewers, based on their experiences with their reading public. SLJ’s stars signal titles that are outstanding in relation to others on the same subject or in the same genre. Stars are the editors’ decisions, but reviewers’ recommendations are a key consideration. Reviews of reference materials appear every other month, as do reviews of graphic novels. A roundup of December holiday books is published in our October issue, and our editors’ choices of the “Best Books of the Year” appear in December. Reviews of bilingual books in English and Spanish and of books in Spanish can be found in our sister publication, Criticas, at www.criticasmagazine.com. Each issue of SLJ carries indexes of authors, illustrators, and titles reviewed. A cumulative index appears on our Web site in December. Information about reviewing for SLJ and submitting books for review can also be found on our website.