The third in a series of articles on writing online book reviews. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2. Today’s article presents the opportunity of reviewing Christian children’s picture books (no blog required), as well as advice for new reviewers.

I have recently been blessed with the opportunity to write some reviews for Christian Children’s Book Review (CCBR). This is a group book review blog with several contributors (and you can see a photo of me with my two girls in the right hand sidebar there!). There are currently six contributing book reviewers on the site, all Christian mothers with a passion for Christian children’s picture books. Most of the mothers also maintain their own websites and/or blogs, but not all do, nor is it a requirement of participation in the reviewers group.

I stumbled across the CCBR a couple of months ago and was struck by the clear and simple design of the blog, as well as the group review format. There are many sites that review Christian fiction for adults, but the Christian children’s picture book market is often under-represented.

From Christian Children’s Book Review:

For those of us with small children, a review site such as this is a true boon. The blog was also awarded the Litty Award for Best Christian Litblogger in 2007. They are always open to inquiries from those interested in writing reviews for them.

This review site works a little differently than some of the others I know of and have participated in. Some review copies of books are available as they come in, other titles will need to be provided by the reviewers themselves. I found that I already had a number of books on the shelf that had not yet been reviewed on the site, so I am working on those reviews to start with. After that it will be off to the library! Reviewers are also entitled to the earnings from the affiliate links from their own reviews on the site. Desired participation from reviewers is 3 new reviews each month. I have found that this should be easily attainable, as picture books are very quick to read, and my children love to help by listening! There are many other details available in a pdf file ( a fabulous introduction to reviewing for CCBR, frequently asked questions, how to put reviews together, how the site works, photo tutorials on submitting reviews etc.) by emailing the blog founder and co-ordinator, Kristina using the contact information on this page. It is a good idea to have some examples of your writing (as discussed in Part 1 of this series) that you can send to Kristina to show the quality of your work. These can either be emailed, or displayed on your blog.

CCBR reviews are held to the certain standards including: proper English grammar, word usage and spelling. Don’t let this intimidate you though - Kristina is happy to assist with editing your first few reviews to help with this aspect of review writing for the site.

Here is her advice for new book reviewers:

First and foremost, take your writing seriously. Too many reviews are poorly written. Read lots of books about good writing and editing; you may not be a novelist, but your skill as a writer does count. Also, never be afraid to write a negative review. You don’t have to be mean, of course, but you should always be honest. In fact, readers will trust your opinions more if you occasionally offer negative critiques. If all your reviews are positive, you will come across more as a salesperson than a true reviewer.

She also highly recommends the following two titles for book reviewers looking to hone their craft:

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
(Kristina’s note: Even though the latter is targeted toward fiction writers, there’s a lot for nonfiction writers in this book, too.)

My experience to date with Christian Children’s Book Review has been very informative. All of my questions have been answered thoroughly and excellent support for the reviewers is provided. I look forward to writing many more reviews for this site! Visit Christian Children’s Book Review to read my reviews there, or visit my Book Reviews page (links to other review sites are marked with a *).

Please sign up for updates to the blog (in the upper right hand corner) to read the rest of this upcoming series, featuring interviews with established online book reviewers, more opportunities to review books online (both with and without a blog) and advice for new reviewers.