Blog & Review Policy

I review fantasy and science fiction for children and teens. Most of the books I review fall into the middle grade or YA categories.

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
• Vampire or other paranormal books
• Horror
• Ebooks. I still prefer print and rarely read ebooks, except when I'm reading for the Cybils Awards

I never review:

• Realistic fiction. It doesn't fit with the theme of the blog.
• Books promoting a particular religious worldview.

I'm especially looking for:

• Good YA science fiction. There's an abundance of YA fantasy, but not as much on the science fiction end of things.
• Books with diverse or multicultural characters
• Undiscovered gems
• Strong character development

 To submit a book for consideration, please send an email to sruth@wandsandworlds.com. Please include:

• The title of the book
• The author
• A paragraph (not more) describing what is unique or interesting about the book and why I would be interested in reviewing it
• The publication date, if not already published
• A link to the book on your web site. (If you don't have a web site, it's very unlikely that I'll review the book). I'd prefer to see a cover image on the web site.

Please don't include in the email:

• Attachments - I automatically delete any emails with attachments.
• A long synopsis (OK to have this on web site)
• An excerpt from the book (OK to have this on web site)
• Other reviews of the book. I try very hard not to read any other reviews before reading a book.
• Email attachments

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 do blog tours and 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.