ENGL 355 - Literature for Children

Find citations for book reviews in print indices

When studying a book published before the 2000s, you may need to supplement your online search with print indices.

Print indices are large reference books that do not include the actual book review, but provide an index, or list, of the book reviews. The lists include the date of the review and the title, or abbreviation, for the journal/magazine/newspaper where that review was published.

Before starting your search, be sure you know the year the book was published and the author's last name.

Book review digest (1906-2009)

Instructions for using this index:

1. Go to the record for Book Review Digest in Search It.
2. Follow the link to "Sign-in for your loan options" and sign in with your K-State eID and password.
3. Locate the volumes for the year your work of interest was published and for the following five years.
   • For each volume, click "Request Retrieval," select your pickup location (any of K-State's libraries), and Send Request.
   • You will receive an email notifying you when the books are at your pickup location
4. In each of the six volumes, find the entry for your author and then the individual work of interest listed under their last name/family name.
5. Copy down the list of book reviews for that work.  
6. Use the list of source abbreviations in the front of the volume to learn the full title of the magazine or journal.

Combined retrospective index to book reviews in humanities journals, 1802-1974

Instructions for using this index:

1. Go to Hale Library's 4th floor and find Z6265 .C65 1982.
2. Select the volume containing the last name/family name of your author (e.g., Hemingway, Eliot).
3. Find the entry for your author and then the individual work of interest listed under their last name/family name.
4. Copy down the list of book reviews for that work. 
5. Use the list of source abbreviations in the front of the volume to learn the full title of the magazine or journal.

Combined retrospective index to book reviews in scholarly journals, 1886-1974

Instructions for using this index:

1. Go to Hale Library's 4th floor and find Z1035.A1 C64. 
2. Select the volume containing the last name/family name of your author (e.g., Hemingway, Eliot).
3. Find the entry for your author and then the individual work of interest listed under their last name/family name.
4. Copy down the list of book reviews for that work. 
5. Use the list of source abbreviations in the front of the volume to learn the full title of the magazine or journal.

Find texts of the reviews:

Once you have the journal/magazine/newspaper title and the date the review was published, 

1. Go to the Search It boxes on the Libraries' home page.
2. Make sure Search It is selected for the first box
3. Select By Title for the second box
4. Enter the title of the journal/magazine/newspaper in the third box.
5. Click on the magnifying glass icon or hit Enter on your keyboard.
6. If we have issues of the journal/magazine/newspaper in print or online, you should see a record for it.
7. Click on the title to see which issues/dates we have.
8. Match the date the review was published to the dates we have. Use that information to locate the dates you need. 

Note: we may not have every review in our collection. Use interlibrary loan to request a review that we do not own. 

If you get stuck, Ask a Librarian!

Using the journal Reading Teacher is a great place to learn about best practices for teaching certain types of books (e.g., nonfiction!) and read about award-winning books.

The first link below takes you to the online access that the Libraries has to the journal - you can search for a specific article browse by year.

The second link is to an article from the journal titled "What Teachers Need to Know About the "New" Nonfiction" by Sharon Gill.

***Both links require log in with your eID and password if you are off-campus.

If you're off campus, enter your K-State eID and password to get to each publication.