You can find reviews of many books in our library collection by clicking on the cover image in the catalog record.
A book review is an assessment of the reviewer's opinions about the book being reviewed. While a brief synopsis of the topic or plot is usually included, a review does not go into a detailed summary of the work. A review helps a potential reader gauge whether the book will be interesting or useful to them. It also helps people who purchase books (individuals, book sellers, libraries, schools, etc.) make decisions about whether to buy a certain book.
Book reviews include information about the genre of the book, in other words, the type of story it tells. For works of fiction, this could include mystery, fantasy, science fiction, realistic fiction, urban or street lit, etc. For non-fiction titles, the reviewer would specify if the book is biography, history, memoir, science, journalism, true crime, etc.
The reviewer includes his or her opinions about how well the author meets his or her goal, whether that is telling an inventive, beautifully written story with well-developed characters, delivering a thouroughly researched argument on a topic, or using art and sequence along with text to tell a story in the graphic novel format.
Finally, the reviewer either recommends the book or not, and indicates which audiences it is best suited for. Information to help a reader find the book is also given; author, title, publisher, publication date, and ISBN.
