Star Review

Maybe I’m just a tough critic but after years of writing book reviews for School Library Journal, this month’s issue contains only the second “starred review” I’ve ever submitted. Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea was only the second book that I thought deserved to be elevated to the status of “starred”. The first book I ever awarded a star to was Chicken Boy by Frances O’Roark Dowell, and that was in 2005.


Because of Mr. Terupt is a great book, well written, with believable characters and a theme reminiscent of Leave it to Beaver and Welcome Back Kotter all rolled into one. Each chapter is a separate narrative by one of the seven students in Mr. Terupt’s classroom. From the students’ distinct voices, readers come to understand the different personalities and backgrounds that define them. The chapters are short, some less than a page, each skillfully arranged to keep readers moving headlong into the conclusion.

But why only two starred reviews in a decade? With all the books being published you would think it would be easy to fill a library with award winning literature. But take a look at the publishing business and how it has evolved. Michael Larson, author of How to Get a Literary Agent, claims that the publishing business is changing faster and more radically than at any other time in history. Globalization is shaping the future of media and having profound effects on what is available at your library, book store, and cinema.


Reed Publishing sends me books every month. As one MLIS student told me, “Just give them all a star review, that way you get more free books”. This was what her professor was doing and he encouraged his students to reap the wealth of free books. I’m wondering if she ever noticed how many of these fiction books had characters using a lot of British slang and Australian settings.


Enter the Six Sisters of Publishing. During the first half of the century hundreds of publishers and imprints were formed. Mergers during the last ten years have resulted in the loss of 90% of the publishing imprints. Of the six big houses that remain only one is a US owned company. Here’s the breakdown in simple terms:



• Bertelsmann AG (German) owns 70 imprints including Random House, Knopf, Ballantine, Crown, Pantheon, and Vintage



• Simon & Schuster (US) includes Pocket Books, Free Press, Scribner, Touchstone

• Hachette Book Group (France) owns Little Brown and Company and Grand Central Publishing



• HarperCollins (Australia) includes Harper Paperbacks, Harper Mass Market, HarperOne



• Penguin Group (United Kingdom) includes Penguin, Putnam, Viking, Berkley, Signet, Plume, Grosset



• Macmillan (Germany) includes Henry Holt and Company, St. Martin's Press


Even my latest star reviewed book was a re-release of a previously published book. If it was ever turned into a movie that Paramount would produce and Mattel could manufacture the toys for and a publisher could re-release yet again the same book but with a glossy movie tie-in cover, then perhaps more people might get there hands on a good book.

While global forces dictate what we will read the genre of books sold show how media tie-ins affect sales. Thanks in part to Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series, 17% of books sold in 2009 were related to vampires and the paranormal. When I first started reading Charlaine Harris, back in 2000 her characters Lily Bard and Aurora Teagarden had no idea that Sookie Stackhouse would come on the scene some ten years later becoming the inspiration for HBO’s True Blood series. Harris herself had a total of nine titles in the top 100 sellers in one year.

The mother daughter Cast team had six books in the top 100 in 2009, all part of their House of Night series. Add some zombies in the mix with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith and it would make sense that almost 20% of books being purchased have some walking dead factor.


I guess that reading books, where ever they are published and by whoever owns the company, is not a lost art. But having a character that is dead would help your chances of getting published. Write a book with a vampire or a zombie as the main character, add in a British accent and a Canadian setting….then your sitting on a best seller.