Not without its flaws, but definitely one of the better library textbooks I've been assigned over the course of my degree. ( )

Clearly this book has an audience; it is in its second edition and meets the needs of many librarians. The book serves to provide a strong and supportive base for investigating "activity-oriented" issues when children read. Rather than just a text that works on the classroom, this book focuses on the librarian and their programs and plan for sharing books with children. It is this perspective of the librarian in this text that makes it special. Three genre divisions are explored and each chapter contains actions that lead to reading issues. Current trends, tastes, and selection tools are explored as well as meaningful programming. Excellent references, bibliographies of children's literature and a comprehensive index are provided. Blog and other electronic connections are discussed. Recommended.

This was the textbook for one of my classes in library graduate school. It was a particularly time-consuming semester between classes and work so I only read a few chapters of the book before I realized it was 1) not necessary for me to read this book to keep up in class and 2) impossible for me to do all the readings necessary if I included the textbook readings as well. So I abandoned the book early on. But, based on what I did read, it seemed like a fairly useful book and I’ll keep it around as a reference tool for now. ( )

This teacher-librarian resource is a wonderful guide to the genres of children's literature and provides excelelnt and applicable suggestions for integrating children literature into the instructional settings of both classrooms and school libraries. A must read resource for librarians working with children's literature, and the companion Young Adult Literature in Action by Rosemary Chance would be a good resource for those working with older students. ( )