This title collects previously published reviews from Booklist, which has an editorial policy of publishing positive reviews only, and emphasizes a target audience of public libraries and school library media centres in the United States. Reviewers include both Booklist editors and freelance contributors, who are predominantly librarians who specialize in young adult literature. Although readers should take those factors into consideration, the recent success of the young adult genre in publishing and film may elevate this particular title above the initial market. The time period covers books published between 2000 and 2013. A brief introduction provides an overview of the recent renaissance in young adult literature and the factors within the book publishing industry that sparked it.
The criteria for inclusion in this book combined young adult titles listed for American Library Association awards (there are several that cover the genre and they include fiction and non-fiction titles – it would have been helpful if the editors had included an appendix listing the prizes and winners) and choices made by the Booklist editors. The book's thousand titles are organized within five fiction categories: contemporary fiction, graphic novels, historical fiction, mystery and suspense and speculative fiction; and five non-fiction categories: arts, history, poetry, science and social science. Within each section, the reviews are organized alphabetically by author. The Booklist Books for Youth editors also created a top 50 young adult book list for 2000-2013.
The simplistic organizational scheme makes the book less useful than one with more facets on several levels. The fiction lists are rather long for librarians wishing to engage in retrospective collection development. However, the less-well-publicized book lists in the non-fiction section do have potential as a checklist of titles for a core collection aimed at young adults. The lack of narrower categorizations also limits the usefulness of the tool to teachers of young adults or for scholars of young adult literature. Many of the titles deal with contemporary issues like race, sexuality, child-abuse and suicide, but with no indexing or subject access, there is no way to identify appropriate groupings around themes.
The book does work well for an overview of the publishing climate during an explosive era for young adult titles and as a tool for those with a general interest in the genre. It is also of value for those studying the movie industry's adoption and success with the young adult fantasy series. At its best, it provides a snapshot of a print-publishing success story, and the not-as-famous titles that shared shelf space (and good reviews) with Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight.
