Zuckerman's Barn Kids Page

A short history of children's book reviewing

1832 - Bronson Alcott included two student reviews of Maria Edgeworth's writing for children in his long article about "intellectual instruction." These reviews were among the illustrative examples he chose from the work of his elementary school students in Philadelphia. By coincidence, 1832 also saw the birth his daughter, Louisa May Alcott, one of the most famous writers for children who ever lived.

1887 - Charles Wesley Birtwell, general secretary of the Boston Children's Aid Society began a program of "libraries" for children in poor neighborhoods. He placed sets of books in the homes of local students who served as the "librarians" for their immediate neighborhood. In describing this project, he wrote, "To put the books to an interesting test, but more especially to induce the children to read appreciatively and really use their minds as they read, a form was made out on which the librarian or visitor should record the opinion of each child in regard to each book he returns. The evolution of these opinions from the obnoxiously frequent "nice" and "very nice," or the occasionally refreshing "no good," of the early history of a group into really intelligent and discriminating opinions, is one of the sure marks of progress and value in the work." For more information about this program see the book Library Work With Children.

1918-19 - Willis Uhl used student responses when he tried to find a "scientific" way to choose books for elementary schools. He noted that existing methods gave "insufficient consideration to the interests and maturity of pupils." To learn about these interests, he had more than 500 students in grades 3-8 read stories, poems, and non-fiction and then write about whether they liked each one and why.

1922 - Sterling Leonard, in Essential Principles of Teaching Reading and Literature urged teachers to make student book reviews an essential part of the curriculum, giving many specific examples and recommendations. He wrote, "A number of the classes in one school from the third grade up have helped in making a file of cards about various books in the library which they have read and can recommend. These cards are kept for the succeeding class, who may want to read similar books, and the aim is to prepare a statement in a few words as will be a major help to someone else in deciding whether to read the book...The interest that the cards excite and the real eagerness in question and criticism when reviews are given orally or read before the class is one indication of the reality and value of the process." For an excerpt from Leonard's book, click here.

1926 - Carleton Washburne and Mabel Vogel published the Winnetka Graded Book List, including 700 books for grades 3-8 chosen after 36,750 students filled out ballots about each book they read. These ballots included an open ended response and two four point scales, one of the book's interest and the other of its difficulty. Books were listed according to the average grade level reading ability of the children who read and enjoyed it. The listing for each book included the title and author, a representative student response, and separate statistics about the responses of boys and girls.

1942 - Jean Poindexter Colby established a group of "Junior Reviewers," children 2-15, whose book reviews were the basis of a newsletter recommending new books. The youngest children dictated their reviews, while older children wrote theirs out and eventually began to be paid for their work. Within ten years, this project led to the Junior Reviewers Catalog of the Best Books for Children, to the Junior Reviewers Manuscript Testing Service for aspiring authors, and to the New England Mobile Book Fair. The successor to the Mobile Book Fair is still a thriving business in Newton, Massachusetts.

1975 - The International Reading Association and the Children's Book Council (CBC) started the Children's Choices Project. The CBC website states: "Publishers submit about 700 titles to be evaluated and voted on by 10,000 children. Throughout the school year, five review teams, located in different regions of the United States, work with their local classroom teachers and school librarians to incorporate the books into classroom activities. The top titles, as voted on by the children whose teachers are involved with the project, are announced at the IRA Annual Convention in April/May. The fully annotated list of Children's Choices appears in the October issue of the IRA publication The Reading Teacher."