12/05/97

Publish Your Book Reviews

When you write them at school, your teacher calls them book reports. But when they are published, they magically become book reviews. Harness the power of the Internet to turn your book reports into published book reviews at these five Web sites that accept book reviews from kids. Haven't you always wanted to be a critic?

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, the "Earth's biggest bookstore", is well-known on the Internet for their success in building an online business from scratch. It also happens to be my favorite bookstore. What makes it special? I like browsing the book reviews written by other readers. To post your own review, first find your book in their catalog. You can search by keyword, title, author or subject. Near the bottom of each catalog page, you'll find a link titled "I read this book and want to review it." Amazon says they are looking for writing "that makes someone else really want to read the book. Or, if you disliked the book, a well-reasoned explanation of where the author went wrong." Include your email address if you want to be eligible to win the monthly $100 prize in their book review contest.

Bamboozle's Book Nook

Bamboozle divides its book reviews into two sections: Ten & Younger and Older Kids. They also publish kids' stories, and list Newberry award winners (although their list is already two years old). Reviews are submitted by email, you'll find the address at the bottom of every page. Before you leave, be sure to read "The Fourth Little Pig by Teresa Celsi.

IPL: A World of Readers

Editors Note 12/05/97: IPL has told me that book reviews are NO LONGER being accepted here, but can be submitted to The World of Reading instead.

The Internet Public Library posts book reviews written by kids, but they must be submitted by a parent, teacher or librarian. From the home page, you can browse the kid reviews by subject (such as Adventure, Animals, or Science Fiction). Your review should be a single paragraph, not longer than six sentences. To submit it, follow the link at the bottom of the page to About A World of Readers. In addition to individually-written reviews, teachers and librarians can send collaborative class reviews.

Seminole County Public Library

Interested in scary books? How about fantasy and time travel? The Seminole County Public Library has pages of recommended kid books, organized by subject, and welcomes reviews on any book on their list. There are hundreds of books listed here, and only a handful have already been reviewed. So jump on in, and tell the world what you thought of that last book.

Treasure Island: Book Reviews

When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island for his stepson in 1881, he said, "If this don't fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day." It tells the exciting tale of young Jim Hawkins in search of evil Captain Flint's buried treasure. The entire book is now available online. Whether you read it online or off, send in your review when you have finished. The best of them will be posted here.

The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

Girl Reviews

Please send questions or comments to feldman@surfnetkids.com.