Reviewing
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
During a lively presentation at ALA’s annual conference called “Everyone’s a Critic”, panelists discussed the fine art of reviewing in the age of instant comments online. Otis Chandler, founder and CEO of Good reads; Ron Charles, Deputy Book Review Editor at the Washington Post; Jon Fine, director of Author and Publisher Relations at Amazon.com; and Jennifer Huber Swan, creator of Reading Rants and middle school librarian at The Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York talked about the role of professional reviewers, the nature of authority, and the significance of reviews. Do readers want heavy analysis or do they care more about whether their friends enjoyed a book? There is room for both. Booklist Online editor Keir Graff served as moderator and source of good humor.
