I talk a lot about books on this blog, obviously, but I also do formal reviews for the Book Report Network. Rather than link them all on the page about my published writing, I thought I would try to compile all my past reviews on one page, complete with links. Keep in mind I began reviewing books in high school, that most of these “reviews” consist largely of summary unless I was really inspired by the book to say more, that the point of them is to be positive, not critical, and that I review mostly YA titles. Read at the bottom of this page if you’d like to know about my review policy for the blog. I am not at liberty to take requests for reviews for Book Report Network, because they provide me with booklists and maintain their own contact with publishers.
This list is divided into three categories and links are alphabetical, not chronological. It should be fairly obvious given the writing style, year of publication, and email address which reviews I wrote when I was much younger. Also, sometimes they edit in grammatical mistakes like comma splices, and that really bothers me. Finally, I will be perfectly honest and say that I don’t even remember reading some of these. That’s why I now keep better track of my reading.
Children’s Titles
Avi. City of Orphans. Review.
Beddor, Frank. Princess Alyss of Wonderland. Review.
Clements, Andrew. The Last Holiday Concert. Review.
Clements, Andrew. Lost and Found. Review.
Creech, Sharon. Hate That Cat. Review.
Hardinge, Frances. Well Witched. Review.
Klise, Kate. Grounded. Review.
Levine, Gail Carson. Ever. Review.
Lowry, Lois. Like the Willow Tree. Review.
Napoli, Donna Jo. Lights on the Nile. Review.
Sendak, Maurice. Bumble-Ardy. Review.
Smith, Yeardley. I, Lorelei. Review.
Steer, Dugald A. and Clint Twist. The Mythology Handbook. Review.
Woodson, Jacqueline. Peace, Locomotion. Review.
YA Titles
Amateau, Gigi. Claiming Georgia Tate. Review.
Aronson, Marc. Unsettled: The Problem of Loving Israel. Review.
Ashton, Victoria. Confessions of a Teen Nanny. Review.
Berr, Helene. The Journal of Helene Berr. Review.
Billingsley, Franny. Chime. Review.
Black, Holly and Ellen Kushner, eds. Welcome to Bordertown. Review.
Bray, Libba. Beauty Queens. Review.
Brugman, Alyssa. Finding Grace. Review.
Bunce, Elizabeth C. A Curse Dark As Gold. Review.
Cantor, Jillian. The Life of Glass. Review.
Chayil, Eishes. Hush. Review.
Cohn, Rachel. Very LeFreak. Review.
Dent, Grace. Diary of a Chav (later changed to Diva Without a Cause). Review.
García, Cristina. Dreams of Significant Girls. Review.
Holder, Nancy. Pretty Little Devils. Review.
Johnson, Maureen. The Last Little Blue Envelope. Review.
Kadohata, Cynthia. Outside Beauty. Review.
Kogler, Jennifer Ann. Ruby Tuesday. Review.
Larbalestier, Justine. Liar. Review.
Lester, Julius. Guardian. Review.
Marchetta, Melina. Saving Francesca. Review.
O’Connell, Mary. The Sharp Time. Review.
Pearce, Jackson. Sisters Red. Review.
Pearce, Jackson. Sweetly. Review.
Porter, Sarah. Lost Voices. Review.
Rennison, Louise. Stop in the Name of Pants! Review.
Resau, Laura. The Queen of Water. Review.
Rodriguez, Gaby with Jenna Glatzer. The Pregnancy Project. Review.
Sandell, Lisa Ann. A Map of the Known World. Review.
Schneider, Robyn. Better Than Yesterday. Review.
Schrefer, Eliot. The School for Dangerous Girls. Review.
Silag, Lucy. Beautiful Americans. Review.
Silag, Lucy. Wanderlust. Review.
Sones, Sonya. One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. Review.
von Ziegesar, Cecily. Gossip Girl The Carlyles #2. Review.
von Ziegesar, Cecily. It Had To Be You. Review.
Walde, Christine. The Candy Darlings. Review.
Walker, Brian F. Black Boy, White School. Review.
Waite, Judy. Forbidden. Review.
Zink, Michelle. Prophecy of the Sisters. Review.
Zink, Michelle. Guardian of the Gate. Review.
Zink, Michelle. Circle of Fire. Review.
Adult Titles
Baszile, Jennifer. The Black Girl Next Door. Review.
Bradbury, Ray. We’ll Always Have Paris. Review.
Dery, Dominika. The Twelve Little Cakes. Review.
Evans, Danielle. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. Review.
Johnson, Marilyn. This Book Is Overdue. Review.
Lethem, Jonathan. The Ecstasy of Influence. Review.
Pearson, Allison. I Think I Love You. Review.
Perkins-Valdez, Dolen. Wench. Review.
Rice, Luanne. The Geometry of Sisters. Review.
Roy, Allyson. Aphrodisiac. Review.
Schappell, Elissa. Blueprints for Building Better Girls. Review.
Silver, Charlotte. Charlotte Au Chocolat: Memories of a Restaurant Girlhood. Review.
von Ziegesar, Cecily. Cum Laude. Review.
Weitz, Patricia. College Girl. Review.
Wickham, Madeleine. Sleeping Arrangements. Review.
Wolitzer, Meg. The Uncoupling. Review.
If you’d like me to review your or your author’s book, keep in mind a few things. First, I do not review self-published books. I know that that scene is changing and that there are many quality books coming out that can’t find traditional publishers, but I’ve had too many experiences with shoddily edited “books” that were printed without much thought for me to consider them at this time. I have too long of a personal and academic reading list to read something that hasn’t been veted by someone else. Second, I would love to read books from indie presses, so if you’re one and you think I would be interested in your title, you should definitely shoot me an email. Third, my blog is my personal blog and just happens to relate to books, so I don’t review books just to review them. Please read some of my posts and think about whether your title would be something I would find interesting. Finally, I get lots of emails from publishers that might be legitimate review requests, but I tend to delete them (if Gmail doesn’t flag them as spam first) without reading, or with just quickly scanning, because they look like marketing messages. So I probably won’t respond to your request if it doesn’t have “Dear Hannah/McLicious” or something at the beginning and if it doesn’t look like it’s directed to me and not just a huge pool of reviewers. I know editors, agents, and authors are busy and sometimes have to resort to form messages, but I’m busy too, so sometimes I have to resort to the delete button.
Not to scare you. Because I would really love to receive some interesting review requests!
