Review Policy

Biblio File is meant to be a record of "everything" I read.

"Everything" is in quotation marks because fiction must be at least 100 pages before I review it. There may be a very few exceptions made for books that I love and need to talk about or books that I am reviewing or thinking critically about for other sources (such as a class).

If a nonfiction title is over 100 pages, it automatically gets reviewed. Because nonfiction for middle grade readers is often capped at 96 pages, the 100 page break is much more fluid for nonfiction. I will review nonfiction that is under 100 pages if I absolutely love it, it is seriously awesome, or seriously flawed.

3/31/2012 UPDATE: I am currently serving on YALSA's Award for Excellence in Nonfiction committee. The policy says Committee appointees must not discuss books on social media that are eligible for their award in any way that could lead to a conflict or lack of confidentiality in regards to their committee. Mentioning the existence of a book is fine. Discussing its merits as pertains to the award criteria is not. Yes, I could review books that are eligible as long as I divorce them from the committee and... that sounds like a lot of work. Rest assured, I'm taking very good notes and writing reviews, but you won't see anything until February 2013 and then, maybe not everything. I'll decide then.

While I occasionally may talk about something else that excites me, I only review things I read here. No audio books, movies, tv shows, etc.

I do accept review copies but please, please, please contact me first: kidsilkhaze at yahoo dot com

I have a severe backlog of review copies and many other books I have to read for work and other places, as well as all the books that catch my eye at the library and book store. I cannot accept all books. Sometimes I can't accept a book because of other commitments, I will also not accept a book that I do not want to read. If you have a day you would like the review to post by, please ask me. I will try to accommodate you, but I make no promises. If you contact me and I say "yes" to a book, I will attempt to have it read and reviewed within 3 months or by the book's publication date, whichever is later. However, I make no promises.


Things I like in books (a very, very, very short list):

Fairy tale retellings
WWI
Fiction about China
Nonfiction about China
Books that explore the changing notions of British identity
Funny books about girls
Teenage spies
History
Historical Fiction
Books told in stuff and other non-conventional story-telling methods
Explorations of faith (all faiths!) that don't try to convert the reader
A good author note


Things I don't like in books:

Talking animals (if it's an enchanted frog, ok. A wise spider? Ergh.)
Self-help books
Not citing sources in nonfiction
Horses (I have never liked horse books)


I do not review picture books. Picture books are great and I love 'em and use 'em all the time at work, but I do not review them. Partly because one must draw the line somewhere, mainly because I can't talk about art intelligently.