The Adequacy of Reviews of Teen Materials

 

In order to fully get a range of reviews both professional and nonprofessional I used one fiction title (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and one nonfiction title (Most Dangerous). I wanted to know if reviews of nonfiction were taken more seriously than those for fiction. Professional reviews were found in Kirkus, School Library Journal, the New York Times, and the Guardian. Nonprofessional reviews were found on various blogs. 

• Reviews for Most Dangerous were slightly more serious in tone than those for Simon. All five reviews for Most Dangerous mentioned the author's past work. They all also stated that though the intended age range for this book is 12 and up, it may be a difficult read for a 12 year old, and that it may be a hard sell to teens in general unless they have a specific interest in the Vietnam War. Though they may be interested in Daniel Ellsberg if they have an interest in Edward Snowden, as all reviews connected the two. 
• The nonprofessional reviews found did not contain any fan-girling as was expected. All of the reviews from the blogs had a casual tone but were well written. 
• No single review contained all of the criteria the assignment asked us to look for. Several contained a few of the criteria, but most did not have these specific elements. The covers were not discussed. For the most part the audience that would enjoy the book was not mentioned. only two gave similar titles that one may enjoy. Being that they reviews were relatively short it was difficult to find a comprehensive review. 
• Multiple sources should be used if these elements are necessary in making a decision. While all of the reviews for each book all shared the same positive opinion, this will not always be the case and therefore having multiple opinions would be beneficial. 
• Nonprofessional reviews can be trustworthy. Just because they are not in a well known source such as Kirkus, does not mean they would be poorly written. Even if they have a casual tone, or some fan-girling that could be useful. If someone gets super excited about something it speaks volumes about how other may perceive it.