Keeping up with the latest and best of children’s literature is a challenge for public and school librarians. With Popular Picks for Young Readers Diane Foote has compiled a resource that will be of great use to librarians who are updating their children’s literature collections. As she states in the introduction, her intention has been to include books with popular, not just literary, appeal, reasoning that popular books get children to read more. Books nominated for inclusion in this collection are those published between 2010 and 2012, and which meet several criteria. They must have originated as books and not be based on a movie or television series. They must be documented favorites in the contributors’ own libraries, and have received at least two positive reviews in professional journals. They may be part of a series, and in any of a wide variety of formats.
Popular Picks for Young Readers is organized into eight chapters based on format, along with three appendices. Formats included are board books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, novels, informational books, graphic novels and poetry. The appendices provide three lists that summarize the recommendations according to age level, genre/subject and books that are appropriate for a diverse collection. Finally, an author/title index rounds out the book.
The books were selected for inclusion in this guide by soliciting recommendations from Association for Library Service to Children members who work with children in public and school libraries. Entries for each book include a bibliographic citation, a recommended age level for the readership, an annotation that describes the book and tells why it is recommended and a code indicating whether the book is appropriate for a diverse collection. Some of the sections are quite short; for example, the chapter on board books includes only eight entries. Others are much longer, such as the chapters on novels and graphic novels.
Popular Picks for Young Readers is an excellent guide for librarians who have responsibility for managing a children’s collection. This book would be appropriate for public and school professional libraries.
