The “how” of reviewing (part 1)

Reviewing a book means we make a judgment about it. Basically, we decide whether or not a book was “good.”  So what do we base our judgment on?

What makes a book “good”?

The simplest answer – If you like it then the book is good, right? Well, kind of.

The Bronze Bow

Problem is people don’t all like the same books 100% of the time. We have different tastes and preferences in genre, subject matter, and writing style. Our like or dislike of a a book depends so much on our own personal preferences and opinions which are not quite good enough standards for determining a book’s worth for the world in general. How could there ever be any agreement on giving a book an award or recommending it for study in a book club or high school English class if the merit was all based on opinion? I found The Grapes of Wrath to be depressing and Great Expectations annoying in high school, but that doesn’t remove them from the Classics list, and it doesn’t mean that they don’t have some worth in the literary world. Hearing me admit that would probably give my high school English teacher a heart attack as my teenage mind was rather adamant that both books were just lame. But thank goodness for a college children’s literature class that opened my mind.

Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World

In that class we were required to read books from a variety of genres, some of which I was not as excited about as the others. I liked reading for an escape from my reality for just a little while, so I never got terribly excited about nonfiction. I also had never been able to read a “high fantasy” book without getting bored part way through and just giving up. But I needed to pass the class for my elementary education degree, so I decided to keep an open mind and give all the genres a fair chance.

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

It was surprising which books I enjoyed most. My number one favorite from the class actually turned out to be a nonfiction selection called Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and The Endurance . And surprisingly the “fairy tale-esque” Seven Daughters and Seven Sons wasn’t just the reality escape I was expecting. I enjoyed the book, but it was also the source for some great class discussion about controversial reading material. And So Far From the Bamboo Grove caught me by surprise with the horrifying real-life events it covered while still fitting into the children’s literature category.  The fantasy book The High King turned out to be more amusing and easier to read than I had anticipated. Being able to discuss all of these books in class and hear others explain and justify their opinions and preferences really helped me to find greater enjoyment in genres I would have normally not considered reading.

Golden

I came to recognize that I needed knowledge and experience with various genres in order to make appropriate recommendations and choices for the elementary school children and the curriculum I would be teaching. I would undoubtably have students one day who had different opinions and preferences for reading and I wanted to be able to encourage a love of reading and to help develop their interests. And even more importantly I learned to appreciate the “good” aspects about books which in turn allows me to now enjoy a much broader scope of genres. I can even recognize the “good” when I don’t necessarily like the book as a whole. My experience with a variety of genres taught me that a “good” book is more than just its subject material. That may pique our initial interest, but a book’s true worth comes not only from what is written, but how it is written.

(Check out my previous post for the”why” behind reviewing and stay tuned for part 2 of the “how” of reviewing.)

Advertisement