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Services for Children's Librarians
Children's and Young Adult Book Review
The Maine State Library receives almost 3,000 children's and young adult review books from over 75 publishing houses each year. These books form the Maine Examination Collection of Children's and Young Adult Books. Age levels range from preschool through senior high school.
Book Review Database
Visit our new Maine Children's and YA Book Review blog. Older reviews can be found in the archive below.
Monthly Meetings and Schedule
Open to registered reviewers from school and public libraries. Meetings are free of charge and pre-registration is not required.
Meetings will be held virtually via Zoom.
10:00 am - 12:00 Noon
2nd Wednesday of each month -- except April (no meeting)
2023
- January 11
- February 8
- March 8
- April (no session due to RRU)
- May 10
- June 14
- July 12
- August 9
- September 13
- October 11
- November 8
- December 13
Archived Book Review Database
- Browse the database - Search hundreds of children's book reviews thoughtfully prepared by Maine librarians of titles published between 2014-2018.
- Review Worksheets
Guidelines for Book Reviewers
What is the Maine Examination Collection?
The Maine Examination Collection was formed to assist librarians in book selection. The Collection is also used to develop the Cream of the Crop Collection, a highlight of the statewide children’s literature conference Reading Round-Up. It includes Maine and New England books, picture books, fiction, non-fiction, professional titles, foreign language books, reprints, and audiovisual materials. Each year about 3,000 hard cover and paperback review copies are received from over 50 publishers. Age levels range from preschool through senior high school.
Where is the Collection Located?
The Collection is housed at the Maine State Library
Who is Eligible to Use the Collection?
Only librarians who work with children in public or school libraries are eligible. New reviewers must register with Kara Reiman, the Youth Services Specialist @ kara.reiman@maine.gov.
Is it Necessary to Attend the Monthly Book Review Meetings?
Reviewers are expected to attend the meetings regularly to share their reviewed books and to participate in the discussions.
Featured Link: Cream of the Crop
- Cream of Crop - Books are reviewed at monthly book review meetings by local librarians. A "Cream of the Crop" Collection of the best titles published in the previous year is prepared for the Maine Regional Library System's Reading Round-Up Conference in April. The Cream of the Crop list contains about 120 books from preschool to high school age levels. The list includes titles, authors, recommended age levels and annotations. Award books are listed on the right sidebar.
