Wish List: Beginning Reader Reviews in Professional Journals

Amy Seto Forrester (she/her) is a youth services supervisor at Eugene Public Library (OR). After serving on the 2016 Geisel Award Committee, she helped to co-found and then co-host Guessing Geisel for several years. She writes books for developing readers with her author-illustrator brother, Andy Chou Musser. Their first book will be published by Chronicle Books. She is represented by Marietta Zacker of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency. 

As someone who eagerly awaits the release of any and all beginning reader titles, I’ve always kept my eye on reviews in professional journals such as School Library Journal, Kirkus, Horn Book, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and the Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books. I’ve recently started a new job that includes selecting beginning reader titles, a change for me as my last library system had centralized collection development. Now that they are vital to my daily work, I’m reminded how few beginning reader reviews there are, especially in comparison to other kidlit formats. 

So here’s my wish list for beginning reader reviews from professional journals. Some changes can be made by reviewers themselves (perhaps that includes you, dear reader!), while others rely on journals reassessing how they organize and present reviews. It’s my hope that 2022 brings us many of these changes! 

Beginning readers are reviewed as books for independent readers, rather than as books to be read aloud by an adult to a child. This might seem like a subtle difference, but consider the difference font design and size, vocabulary, and layout can make when it comes to creating a successful reading experience for developing readers. I’m looking for a review that tells me about word repetition, white space, page turning dynamic, etc. not a review that tells me if a beginning reader is fun to read aloud at preschool storytime. 

Create a beginning reader category in print journals and online databases. Many journals divide their books by age or grade. Often, beginning readers get lumped in with picture books or in a category that encompasses “Elementary” or “Younger Readers.” Selectors are then challenged to determine which titles might be beginning readers. For me this involves using page count and trim size as a starting point and then searching for more information on a title to see if I can get a sneak peek of the interior or find some other clues that tell me about vocabulary, layout, font, etc. This is time consuming and I’m pretty sure there are wonderful titles that fall through the cracks. Kirkus has an “Early Reader” category and I would love to see something similar from other journals. 

Create a beginning reader category for best book lists. Did you know that the ALSC Notables Children’s Book List does not include a category for beginning readers? It’s also a missing category in the best book lists from SLJ, Kirkus, and Horn Book (to name a few). Might this lack of category correlate with the low numbers of beginning readers included on these lists? 

Review more beginning reader titles. Books that get reviewed are more visible to selectors. If it’s not reviewed, I might not even have it on my radar. And even if I do, I have to rely on prior knowledge of the creators, publisher reputation, or the world wide web to determine if it’s a good fit for my library. The percentage of beginning readers reviewed out of the number that are published each year is strikingly low, especially when compared to picture books, middle grade, and even graphic novels. 

Take Action! 

You might be wondering what you can do right now to change the landscape of beginning reader reviews. I encourage you to take one or more of these actions to advocate for beginning reader reviews and increase their quality too! 

If you write for a professional review journal, ask them to assign you beginning readers and let them know how helpful that content would be to you and your colleagues. 

If you subscribe to a professional review journal, email them to ask for a beginning reader category or tag to make beginning readers easier to find. Bonus points if you let them know that beginning reader reviews are most helpful when written with a format-specific lens. 

Kick your beginning reader book reviews up a notch by digging into these helpful resources: 

• Geisel Award criteria 
• From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books by KT Horning

What else do you yearn for in beginning reader reviews from professional journals? Use the comments below to share your ideas, questions, and thoughts. 

Jack Gets Zapped! by Mac Barnett

Jayce Senter is the lead librarian at Fort Worth Christian School. She has taught primary aged students for 16 years.

A book by Mac Barnett that looks like a video game? What else could you want? You know from just looking at the cover that Jack Gets Zapped! is going to be fun! Fans of Mac Barnett’s Jack series will immediately be in for this adventure. But even kids who don’t know Mac or his character Jack will snatch this book up. It is easy to read with sentences like “Jack! Quick! Come in!” It is reminiscent of Dick and Jane style but closer in content to Mo Willems books. They are high-interest because they are funny and hold the attention of early readers, but they are also easy to read with short sentences and predictive text. The 1st and 2nd graders I asked to read this book absolutely saw themselves in Jack who wants to do nothing but play video games. The kids that I had read this book said things like: “I liked it because it’s about stuff I like to do in real life.” “I liked it because it talked about him going into a video game.” “It was very funny!” “I liked it when the lady stomped the boss’s head. Now she can save Jack!” When I asked what the kids didn’t like about the book no one could come up with anything. It is a fun, easy book, perfect for beginning readers and a great contender for the Geisel award.

A Giant Mess by Jeffrey Ebbeler

Alec Chunn is a Children's Librarian at Tualatin Public Library. He was a member of the 2021 Caldecott committee and co-founded the mock Stonewall Book Award blog, Medal on My Mind.

While early reader comics are far from new, the explosion of titles from publisher after publisher has certainly caught my attention this year. Betsy Bird has already sung the well-deserved praises of Kraken Me Up, but I submit yet another Jeffrey Ebbeler book for consideration: A Giant Mess. I’m more than okay with the idea of both books getting some Geisel love (#TeamEbbeler) but, admittedly, I’m all in on A Giant Mess. It’s playful, funny, and—best of all—an example of brilliant visual storytelling. The story is simple: a white child named Molly refuses to clean their room. Exasperated Mom tells Molly to pick up the “giant mess.” Outside, a green giant child named Jack runs amok in the city playing with all the “cool toys” (read: people, buildings, animals, etc.). Chaos ensues until, much like Molly’s mom, Jack’s parents call for Jack to clean up. You know who else asks Jack to clean up? Molly! Their perfectly parallel plots converge and tidiness is achieved. Kind of. In defining “distinguished,” the Geisel award criteria notes how “plot, sensibility, and rhythm” contribute to a “stimulating and successful reading experience.” Cleaning up after playing is part of many children’s routines, but Ebbeler makes that familiar plot exciting through humor and careful pacing. As early as the cover image, the hand-lettered title cues the word giant’s double meaning. The cover image also sets up Ebbeler’s clever use of scale that drives the page turns once Jack is officially introduced. Molly and Jack change size depending on whose perspective is being taken (a giant eye here; a thumb there). The paneling is unusual and somewhat sophisticated, eschewing typical grid block paneling for varied panels that become part of the setting or pop out over splash pages. Even with the unpredictability, the art is never hard to follow. Obviously, the Geisel award isn’t about art but, rather, how text and art work together to support beginning readers. With fewer than 70 unique words and plenty of repetition, the text offers a limited vocabulary. All words are one or two syllables. Most pages only have a few speech bubbles and use fewer than five words per sentence, so there’s a sense of balance and consistency. Repeated phrases such as “I will not” and “This is too hard” stylistically connect Molly and Jack’s characters and give readers a chance to build confidence. Art? Check. Text? Check. My only quip is that some of the dialogue appears outside of speech bubbles, which may be confusing to readers new to the comics medium. But, hey, that’s a small mark on the Geisel scorecard of this otherwise giant contender.

Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Jayce Senter is the lead librarian at Fort Worth Christian School. She has taught primary aged students for 16 years.

Inside Cat sees the world through a very narrow lens. Every window from his home gives him a different view. Brendan Wenzel plays with words and ideas by using one word sentences and alliteration. “Wanders. Wonders.” Inside Cat is sure he knows it all. And then he wanders outside. Of course, nothing is what he had thought from his limited view out the windows. It’s a wonderful book. It’s entertaining and fun, but also a great springboard for discussions about perspective. We can discuss with little kiddos and big kids alike how what we see from our limited view is not the whole picture. Ever. I had 1st and 2nd graders read Inside Cat. Some felt that it was too hard. I can understand some of the confusion in very early readers because Wenzel says things like “roaring flies” but pictures a helicopter. The picture does not help the reader figure out the words. This does make this book harder for emergent readers. I asked students what they did not like about the book. “It was hard to read.” “All the windows” But most felt it was fun and if they couldn’t read the words, they loved the pictures. I asked students what they liked most about the book. Some responses were: “All the windows. The windows showed funny stuff.” “I like the cat. He’s cute.” “fluffy rats!” (This is what the cat thought squirrels were.) “When it was rhyming.” Overall, It is a wonderful read-aloud even if some words may be too difficult for them to read on their own. It is a wonderful spring-board for conversation. However, I do not think it is easy enough or the text predictable enough to be considered for the Geisel.