As you can tell from my biography, I am a real person, and I enjoy sharing my interest in children's books on the About.com Children’s Books site. Since every day, I receive several dozen emails from readers, please read over the FAQ below before emailing me.  I have tried to answer the most commonly asked questions. If you still want to email me, my email address is below.

Q.   What age/grade ranges do you cover?
A.   I cover books for babies through middle school (ages 0-14).

 

Q.   Who covers Young Adult (YA) books for teens? 
A.   If a book is considered a young adult/teen book, it’s covered on the About.com Young Adult Books site.

Q.  Why don’t you cover more books?
A.   I'm too busy reading to write more.  For every book I cover in a review or Top Picks list, I have generally read 5-10 books (sometimes more) to find the best book to feature, which is why I don’t cover more. The writers who do reviews for me are all librarians and are also constantly reading children's books. We are all working to provide you with recommendations of the best children's books available.

Q.   How does your star rating system work?
A.  While 1 is the lowest rating and 5 is the highest rating, most of the books reviewed receive a 4 or 4½ rating because we have chosen to focus on recommending good books as opposed to warning you away from bad books.  Every once in a long while, I'll give an exceptional book the highest rating, 5 stars. Five star books include The Tale of Despereaux: Being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread by Kate DiCamillo, The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

Q.   Will you look at and evaluate my unpublished manuscript?
A.   No, I never do this, although I get asked to do it a lot. Why? I am not qualified to evaluate manuscripts. Even if I were, I still wouldn’t have the time.

Q.   Will you review my book?
A.   At any given time, I have a stack of books awaiting my attention. I also receive multiple emails every day requesting me to review books. It's my policy to never agree to review a book until I have seen it and read it. Even then, for every 100 books that I read, I am only able to review or mention 3 or 4 of them on the About.com Children’s Books site.

If I do cover a book, it may be in a review, an article, or a recommended reading list. If I end up not reviewing your book, it’s not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the book. I am limited by both time and my editorial calendar as to what I cover.

Knowing I may or may not use it and I will not be able to respond to your queries about if and when I am going to cover the book, if you still want me to consider your book, please send me, in the body of an email, detailed information about the book. If it is illustrated, please insert an illustration in the email or provide a website where I can see artwork from your book.

A Special Note to Publishers and Publicists: While I love to receive catalogs (or access to online catalogs), newsletters, press releases and information about new books for children, from babies to age 14, I do not want to receive ARCs and review copies unless I have specifically requested a title, so please make sure I am not on any mailing lists to automatically receive review copies without my requesting them. Thank you.

Q.   Can you help me get my book published?
A.   For helpful information, see the Getting Published section of this site. It includes my article  about SCBWI, the Society of Book Writers and Illustrators, an organization I recommend.

Check my Publishers section for information and links to publishers of children's books.

Q.   What is your Email Address and Will You Answer My Email?
A.   My email address is lizkennedy@wscribe.com.  For security reasons, I have been advised not to open attachments from people I don't know, so please include all information in the body of the email or include the URL of a website where I can find it.

I enjoy hearing from readers and try to answer all my email. However, sometimes emails get lost in spam and, occasionally, I receive so many emails in a short period of time that I just can't answer them all.

Q.   What’s a good source of award-winning books for beginning readers?
A.  Read my article about the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books and then, follow the links at the end of the article to the annual award winners.

Q.   Do you have any tips to help me  encourage my reluctant reader to read?
A.   See my article Resources for Reluctant Readers.

Q.   How can I keep my child reading over the summer?
A.   For summer reading resources to keep your kids and teens reading, see  my directory of Summer Reading Resources.