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Title: Not a Bad Resource If You Know About Children's Books
Review: Silvey's book gives lots of wonderful books, lots and lots of books, but little concept of why (on an objective standard) she chose these books. For example why choose Roald Dahl's BFG rather than his more renowned CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY? Why did she exclude WHOSE MOUSE AM I, the MISS PICKERELL books, ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN? Where are the Scott Corbett, Bruce Coville, and Jay Williams classics? How can one compile a "Best" list of children's books without HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS or any Judy Blume book? Very few books on her list come from African-American (bell hooks, Irene Smalls), Asian American (Taro Yashima), or Latino American (Harriet Rohmer) authors.Hopefully when she updates this book she will make it more multi-cultural, historically respectful, and more objectively evaluated. Should you buy it? Absolutely! It possesses some EXCELLENT books, but you should not make it your only book of this type.
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