10 Tips: Writing a Book Review

In case you hadn't noticed, I've written a lot of book reviews in the last year. A lot.

Most of them are for kids' books, for all ages: baby board books, older picture books, beginner readers' chapter books, junior novels, and young adult books. (You can see them all over at Kids Book Review.) And also some adult books, both novels and non-fiction. (They're over here at Australian Women Online.)

When I wrote my first review for Kids Book Review, I had no idea what to do. Should a review be in a certain format? How long should it be? What sorts of things should I say?

I did what we all do these days when we want an answer to something: I turned to Google. What I found was that there was no 'right' or 'wrong' way to review a book.

So I decided to turn to Plan B: make it up as I went along.

Here are some of the things I've learnt along the way:

1. Write to a length that suits you. If you're a brief writer, don't try to force yourself to babble on, and if you tend to write in long, flowing sentences, then do that. Your review can be 200 words or 1,000 words - as long as it tells us what we want to know, it will work well.
2. Make your introduction attention-grabbing. As with any piece of writing, if you want anyone to read the entire thing you need to attract their attention. Make your first line a little teaser, or a brief personal opinion that will make your reader want to know more.
3. Be detailed. Tell us what the story is about, without giving away any endings. When I read a review, I want to know what it's all about and I want to know more than the sentence on the blurb.
4. Be a little bit formal. Talk about structure, format, voice, style, and so on. Even if you only touch on some of these things, it will give your readers an idea of whether this book is something they want to read.
5. Make it personal. As well as talking about the storyline and the formal bits, tell us what you think. Did the book move you? Did you cry? Did you read it in one sitting? Or did you struggle your way through it? I really believe the best reviews are the personal ones.
6. Include pictures. Yes, people really do judge books by their covers, so they want to see the cover image in your review. If it's a picture book and you can gain access to any other images, include those as well.
7. Take your time. When you're doing a high quantity of book reviews it can be easy to rush through them. Avoid this temptation. Take the time to do the book justice.
8. Be honest, and be fair. If you loved every word of the book, tell us that. Sometimes you'll need to provide some criticism, though - don't be rash about it; remember that this is someone's baby. Be honest but fair.
9. Provide some basic details. Title, author, publisher, age bracket or target audience; these are the basic things we all want to know.
10. Send a link to the publisher and author. Don't expect them to find their way to you, and don't assume that one will send it to the other. If you can find contact details for either or both, then send them a quick email letting them know you've reviewed their book. 

Good luck with writing your book reviews. Let me know how you go!

If you write reviews, do you have any other tips?