Welcome to the HPL Teen Book Reviews! We are excited to host our teen book review page on the library’s website. You will be serving the community in a great way by publishing your opinions on the books you have read!
We have a few guidelines to ensure that all reviews we post are truly informative and helpful to our library patrons.
Guidelines for Book Reviews:
- Books reviewed must be available through the Harlingen Public Library.
You can check our catalog online by clicking the “Library Catalog” button on the top left corner on our website, or using this direct link: https://harlingen.biblionix.com/catalog/. If a book you want to review isn’t in our library, email us and we can see about ordering it!
- Each book should be rated on a 5-star scale.
½ star is the lowest rating a book can receive, while 5 stars is the highest rating a book can receive.
- 1/2 star = Don’t even bother picking up this book.
- 1 star = Picked up the book but immediately regretted it.
- 2 stars = Picked up the book, liked it, but preferred the other book you picked up.
- 3 stars = Picked up the book and liked some parts a lot.
- 4 stars = Picked up the book and genuinely enjoyed it.
- 5 stars = Picked up the book and never put it down!
- Each book review should be at least 2 short paragraphs, and no longer than 3 paragraphs in length. Always include the title and author in each book review.
- No spoilers! Remember, you are helping others choose their next book to read. You can summarize, but do not give away any plot twists or surprises that would ruin their reading experience.
- Try to include support to your review and absolutely no profanity is appropriate.
- Good book reviews will mention at least 3 of the following:
- Plot (both big picture climax & resolution as well as smaller plot points)
- Characters
- Setting or World Creation
- Author’s Writing
- Flow (did you plod through it or was it an edge-of-your-seat page-turner?)
- Other Details (these will depend on the genre and the novel): technical details, historical accuracy, emotions evoked, imagination, thought-provoking, eye-opening to other cultures, inspiring, educational, etc.
4. Review and edit your book reviews for clear writing, spelling, and grammar.
5. When finished, email your book review to us. You can send a Word document as an email attachment to: youth@harlingenlibrary.com.
6. We will email you back within one week with any necessary revisions. Please make all revisions and send back your final version for publication. We will never ask you to change your opinion or your message.
7. Once we have your final version, we’ll load it to the review page on our website and will send you the URL to the published book review! All reviews will be posted publicly here: https://harlingenlibrary.org/hpl-teen-book-reviews/
8. Each published book review = 1 hour of volunteer service. Just email us to request a letter verifying service hours.
* These directions are adapted from New Providence Memorial Library. Thank you! *