I cover fantasy and science fiction for children and teens. Most of the books I cover fall into the middle grade or YA categories.
Please send all publicity and review requests to sruth@wandsandworlds.com
I do review:
- Middle-grade fantasy & science fiction
- YA fantasy & science fiction
- Books related to SFF, such as non-fiction on related themes
- Self-published books, but they have to be professionally edited and designed, and they have to catch my interest (I get a lot of submissions). I do judge a book by its cover, sadly, so if your cover has amateurish-looking artwork or design, I most likely won't go any further. I've found that the quality of the cover is usually a good indicator of the quality of the work inside.
I rarely review:
- Picture books: I occasionally review picture books with fantasy themes
- Adult books: only if they have strong crossover appeal to teens
- Ebooks. I still prefer print and rarely read ebooks, except when I'm reading for the Cybils Awards
I'm especially looking for:
- Books with diverse or multicultural characters
- Undiscovered gems
- Strong character development
I generally respond to the email only if I'd like to see the book. If you don't get a response to your email within a week, you may email me once more to follow-up, but please don't email me repeatedly, and please don't add me to your publicity list without my permission. (I don't need to hear about every award, every article, every mention of your book).
I don't guarantee a particular date for the review, although I will hold a review until the publication date if you prefer.
I review according to the following policies
- If I request a book, I make every attempt to review it.
- If a book is sent unsolicited, I read it only if it catches my interest.
- If I attempt to read a book, I'll generally read at least 50 pages (and usually closer to 100) before giving up if I don't like it. The exception is that if a book has a lot of editing errors, I often give up earlier.
- I don't review every book that I read. I try to review all books that I requested, but other than that, I only review a book if I have something to say about it. That could mean a book that I like and want to recommend, a book that I have a gripe about, or just one that I have musings about.