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Are you a member of a regional organization that reviews books and other library materials? There are two I know of in Washington. Both have in-person meetings to foster discussion and publish written reviews to their members:

WASHYARG (The Washington State Young Adult Review Group) members review YA books http://www.kcls.org/evergreen/about_washyarg.cfm
PSC (Puget Sound Council for the Reviewing of Children's Media) does the same for a broader range of children's materials.

Any other groups out there like this? I'd love a URL and a mailing address where publishers can send materials.

flag	asked Nov 19 at 23:41 Gene Ambaum♦♦ 1,610●1●11

Really? No one attends any other organizations like this? I'm now offering a bounty for the best answer. – Gene Ambaum Nov 23 at 17:02

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I just posted your question on yalsa-bk... I'll let you know what I find out! – Emily J Nov 24 at 5:34

I'll give the bounty to whoever has the most informative answer. (If all answers just have one group mentioned, I'll try to give it to the answer that was posted first.) In all cases, I'll vote up answers with information, so please keep answering, this is great. – Gene Ambaum Nov 26 at 2:33

Emily J · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-01 00:48:28Z UTC

Looks like the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System has something similar to what Susan Babb posted: http://www.wmrls.org/services/youth/cbr.html

Here's another one: http://www.tristatereviews.org/ (PA, DE, NJ)

Southwestern Ohio Young Adult Materials Review Group: http://soyamrg.weebly.com/

Three more:

South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative Book Evaluation Program: http://www.sjrlc.org/bookeval/

Alabama Library Media Online (reviews are online, not sure if they have in-person mtgs): http://alex.state.al.us/librarymedia/BookAwards.html

Southern Maine Library District: http://www.maine.gov/msl/smld/services/children.htm#review

Just got a response on YALSA-BK:

I am a member of THE YOUNG ADULT REVIEWERS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA who review materials for teens grades 6-12, ages 12-18... we meet monthly and would love more publicity and more items to review, as it's up to us to pound the pavement at the exhibits at midwinter and annual, getting publishers interested in sending us materials...

website info is sketchy as we have been changing our affiliations- presently it's the following, with our reviews to be posted soon... http://www.socallibraries.org/reference, go to age specific, and then YAR should be under that ...but it's not there right now! dont know why...

address is Young adult reviewers of so cal % inglewood public library 101 w. manchester blvd inglewood, ca. 90301

i am the contact for publishers...

drue wagner-mees lapl brentwood branch wagndragn@aol.com

143books · Answer 2 · 2009-11-23 21:52:45Z UTC

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From the DC AREA:

http://www.capitolchoices.org/

answered Nov 23 at 21:52

143books
390●6

Susan Babb · Answer 3 · 2009-11-24 15:32:12Z UTC

We have a very successful book review program in the Northeast Region of Massachusetts. I receive books for review from roughly 15 publishers. My reviewers meet once a month to present reviews. They can also send reviews electronically to me. I blog the reviews at http://www.nmrls.org/youth/ysbookreview/ and I send them to the publisher! We've been doing this for about 10 years. Susan C. Babb Youth Services Consultant Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System 175 Andover Street Danvers, MA 01923 888-326-7772 (in-region only) 978-762-4433 voice (ext. 17) 978-739-4537 fax IM AOL: SusanatNMRLS

Gene Ambaum · Answer 4 · 2009-11-25 15:22:22Z UTC

I am the book review chair for a San Francisco Bay Area regional group called BAYA (Bay Area Young Adult Librarians).Our association is composed of school and public librarians, teachers and library school students working directly with teens and books throughout Northern California.

BAYA has been reviewing and publishing reviews for professionals serving teens in libraries and schools for over 25 years. We review both fiction and non-fiction for readers in grades 6 – 12 and have bi-monthly meetings to discuss the profession and plan workshops. Reviewers serve both urban and small communities. Check out our website at http://www.baya.org.

Shawna Sherman, Hayward Public Library

Cherri Jones · Answer 5 · 2009-11-25 19:10:34Z UTC

The Children's and Young Adult Book Review Board of Missouri has been reviewing books for about 6 years. We have about 50 regular reviewers and receive books from over 20 publishers. Most of our reviewers are teachers or librarians. We try to focus on multicultural literature and series books that support the K-12 curriculum.

Our goal is to provide hands-on access to children's and YA literature; as such, we present as many book talks as we can for teachers, librarians, parents, and students in a number of venues. We also have a monthly "Series Review" group that meets to discuss and review individual series titles.

Find us at: http://library.missouristate.edu/meyer/brb/index.htm

Cherri Jones
Curriculum Resource Center/Meyer Library/Missouri State University

Kay Hensley · Answer 6 · 2009-12-01 13:02:33Z UTC

I am the awards chairperson for the Kentucky Bluegrass Awards--our state's children's choice award. Our award has been in existence since 1982, awarding books from grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Each grade level committee reads and selects up to 15 books published in the past three years to nominate for our readers. Votes are cast in April and authors are invited to attend our KBA Banquet (part of the Kentucky Reading Association Conference) in Sept./Oct. More information is available at http://kba.nku.edu/

kay.hensley@lincoln.kyschools.us

Joy Shioshita · Answer 7 · 2009-12-01 23:26:23Z UTC

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Founded in the 1930s, the Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California holds monthly meetings. Members review books written for children and young adults. Contacts: http://bayviews.org/contacts.html

answered Dec 1 at 23:26

Joy Shioshita
11●1

Regional groups that review books and other materials?

7 Answers