Popular Picks for Young Readers: 500+ best-loved contemporary titles for kids age 0 to 14
Edited by Diane Foote
ALA Editions
Chicago
1 Volume
ISBN 978 0 8389 3605 4
Keywords: Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, Reader’s Advisory, Bibliography
Diane Foote and her contributors have curated truly unique collection of readers’ advisory recommendations for children. Foote has attempted to answer the question that so many people ask. “What should I recommend to kids, or to the parents of kids, that they haven’t seen before?” She has contributors from all over the country (18 librarians) currently or formerly employed in children’s services.
Assigned criteria for selection in this volume were:
· “The book must have originated in that format and not be based on a movie or licensed character, such as Star Wars of Dora the Explorer.
· “The book must be a proven child favorite in the contributor’s library”
· “The book must have received at least two favorable reviews in professional journals”
· “Series may be included”
· “Contributors were encouraged to consider a wide variety of formats (picture books, graphic novels, poetry, informational books, etc.) and books that reflect all kinds of diversity (ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, ability/disability level, etc.) Recommendations for a diverse collection (DC) are indicated throughout.”
Clearly, with over 500 selections, this volume presents a large list of recommendations, but it is by no means a comprehensive guide to children’s literature. Rather, the recommendations are carefully chosen to fill a very specific niche, but by sure, a niche that needed filling. By choosing books published in 2010 or later, and not basing selection criteria on awards won or volumes sold, the recommendations are new and fresh, and they are something quite different from the children’s lit. readers‘ advisory we’ve seen before.
The book is broken into 8 chapters, each of which deal with a particular variety of children’s literature. 1. Board Books, 2. Picture Books, 3. Early Readers, 4. Chapter Books, 5. Novels, 6. Informational Books, 7. Graphic Novels, and 8. Poetry. There are also 3 appendices, which list all of the recommended books in lists sorted by, 1. Age Level, 2. Genre/Subjecet, and 3. Books for a Diverse Collection. While the entire curated collection is worth familiarizing one’s self with, by breaking the book up in this fashion, it can function effectively as a ready reference for librarians making recommendations to a parent or young reader.
Each recommendation is described succinctly, but with enough enticing details that every one of these children’s books sounds appealing, even to an adult. Most descriptions include a brief summary of the story’s subject and direction and something about any present illustrations, along with author, publisher, date, number of pages, and appropriate age recommendations.
I would recommend this book as an excellent addition to any readers’ advisory collection, for any teacher of elementary or middle grades looking to add to their classroom collection, or even to the parents of young children. I know that I was tempted to go out and by many of the recommended books for my own child. At a price of $49.00, Popular Picks for Young Readers isn’t inexpensive, but it is well worth the cost.