Mini-Reviews, Here I Come!

Well, it is no secret that I love children's literature. And I love talking about books. Just ask any of my friends at park day or on my email lists. I have had all these great plans about posting tons of reviews about our favorite books, and while I have done some (and Jason has done some), I seem to freeze a bit when it comes to actually writing them. Mainly because I have read many wonderfully written, in-depth reviews on my kid lit blogs and feel a bit intimidated. I seem to be getting hung up on doing the book justice and doing the review justice and not having the time to spend on it to really get it the way that I want...you know, well-written comprehensive plot summary, witty personal insights, all that fun stuff.

So what I have decided to do is mini-reviews (or what librarians, I believe, call "book talks"). I realized that what I am really good at and what I tend to do with any of my friends who will listen in real life is just share my passion - talk about what fun a book is or why we loved it. Nothing fancy, no well thought out plot summaries or analysis, just a chance to share a bit about why the boys and I enjoyed it (half the reason I love a lot of the books I do is because of how much the boys enjoy them). I figure that I can  share links to more in-depth reviews or author blogs for those who want to follow up more.

I have created a new page: Books We Love which will be an index listing of our favorite books.  Not sure exactly how I am going to organize it, but that will work out as I go, I think. Right now, I will group it loosely on genre and then by author. Books We Love will be an ongoing list of our book recommendations. Some will have mini-reviews, some won't at first. It will be a work in progress.

Can you see my left-brained side coming out? I love categorizing and organizing my posts and I have always wanted to be a librarian. When I was younger, I made cards for the back of all my books and used to check them out to myself (complete with a date stamp). If I had to pick a new profession now, I would seriously consider library science. But I digress...

Ha! Just watch. Now that I have taken the pressure off myself, I will probably end up writing more in-depth reviews! Who knows? But it feels good now that I have given my permission to just share what I want and not make it into anything formal.