From Cover to Cover (revised edition): Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books - Hardcover

Horning, Kathleen T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060777567 ISBN 13: 9780060777562

Publisher: Collins, 2010

Synopsis

An invaluable resource for professionals who wish to write book evaluations—and for all serious fans of children's literature!

This revised edition of From Cover to Cover offers a fresh, up-to-date look at some of the best examples of children’s literature and also includes practical advice on how to write clearly articulated, reasoned opinions so that others can learn about books they have not yet read.

A brief, updated introduction clearly explains how children’s books evolve from manuscripts into bound books and the importance of the many different parts of a book (jacket flaps, title page, copyright, etc.) and changes in the children’s book industry, such as the creation of two new major genre awards. In addition, the author demonstrates how to think about and critically evaluate several different genres of children’s books.

Included are sections about books of information (and the author’s responsibility to document sources); traditional literature (myths, legends, tall tales, folktales); poetry, verse, rhymes, and songs; picture books; easy readers and traditional books; and fiction and graphic novels. There is also a concluding chapter on how to write reviews that are both descriptive and analytical, including a segment on children’s literature blogs.

Updated material includes:

•An introduction that reflects the many changes in the children’s book industry

•A section on genres, including a discussion of graphic novels

•A section on children’s literature blogs

•An introduction of two new major genre awards: the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

•And more than 90% of the books cited have been updated from the first edition to more recent publications!

About this title

About the Author

Kathleen T. Horning is the director of the Cooperative Children's Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was also a children's librarian at Madison Public Library for nine years.

Ms. Horning was the president of the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association in 2007, as well as president of the United States Board on Books for Young People in 2003. She has chaired or served on a variety of children's book award committees, including the Américas Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Award, the John Newbery, USBBY's Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, the ALA/ALSC's Notable Children's Books, and the NCTE Lee Bennett Hopkins Award committees, and she was selected to deliver the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.

She is the coauthor with Ginny Moore Kruse of Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults and of CCBC Choices, an annual publication reviewing the best books for children and young adults. She has a BA in linguistics and a master's degree in library and information studies, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

From the Back Cover

The revised edition of From Cover to Cover offers a fresh, up-to-date look at some of the best examples of children's literature today and also includes practical advice on how to write clearly articulated, reasoned opinions so that others can learn about books they have not yet read.

A brief, updated introduction explains how children's books evolve from manuscripts into bound books, the importance of the many different parts of a book (jacket flaps, title page, copyright, etc.), and changes in the children's book industry, such as the creation of two new major genre awards. In addition, the author demonstrates how to think about and critically evaluate several different genres of children's books.

Included are sections about books of information (and the author's responsibility to document sources); traditional literature (myths, legends, tall tales, folktales); poetry, verse, rhymes, and songs; picture books; easy readers and traditional books; and fiction and graphic novels. There is also a concluding chapter on how to write reviews that are both descriptive and analytical, as well as a segment on children's literature blogs.

From Cover to Cover is an invaluable resource for all professionals who wish to write book evaluations that go beyond a simple personal response.

Reviews

Horning's 13-year-old publication has become a standard in the field of reviewing, evaluating, and selecting children's literature. This revised edition has the same broad categories as in the earlier edition but offers separate chapters on children's book publishing and the fundamentals of review writing. It includes a section on illustrated novels such as Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic, 2007) and the expansion of the graphic novel for elementary-aged readers such as Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm's "Babymouse" books (Random). In "Traditional Literature," a section on fractured fairy tales has been added while the chapter on poetry now includes explanations of sound, imagery, ideas, and the growth of the verse novel. Numerous examples of quoted passages from literature across the spectrum round out Horning's very complete resource that will continue to be the venerable reference tool and required reading for education and library-science students, youth librarians, teachers, and anyone else interested in kids, reading, and children's literature.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
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Edition details

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060777567
• ISBN 13: 9780060777562
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240