Readers' advisory

Print

Saricks, JG 2009, The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction, 2nd edn, American Library Association, Chicago.

A genre for adults' fiction so it has a limited application to children. However it devotes a chapter to mysteries and is very informative as a general guide to the genre. It gives an excellent definition and elements of appeal of this genre, which applies to all readers. For example the fact that series are a popular feature of the genre is true for all ages. Saricks's outline of the formula of mystery fiction applies in great part to children's books too. Saricks gives detailed descriptions of subgenres, some of which is a helpful background when considering children's fiction. The authors and book lists are not useful; however the interview questions are of use when helping a young reader.



Charles, J & Clark, C 2012, The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery, Second Edition, 2nd edn, ALA Editions, Chicago, USA.

Another adults' advisory resource which nonetheless has interesting and useful information that was used for this web guide. Understanding the appeal of the genre is important and well outlined here. Many subtleties of why the genre appeals are not obvious but really help a librarian to keep in mind when researching and recommending titles. For example, the authors point out that many mystery readers love to learn something while reading; this is certainly true of children. The subgenre of amateur sleuth includes a good description that is easily applied to children's fiction. Also the genre-blending that is discussed is very helpful background. However there are no children's title or authors included in this guide.




Online

Otis, R 2014, Mysteries in the classroom, Carol Hurst’s Children’s literature site: books in the classroom, viewed 4 October, 2014 <http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/mysteries.html>

This guide has an educational slant and so is useful for teachers and school librarians. The background about appeal is brief and there are no subgenres listed. The main emphasis is on recommended titles and excellent descriptions are included as well as points on why the book is recommended. The guide starts with picture books and goes through to books for older readers; it contains a valuable age guide for each book. There are sections on series, mystery novels for older readers and a non-fiction list. However, this is an American resource and I had difficulty finding many of the books in local libraries. As it is difficult to find up-to-date advisories for children in this genre, this webpage stands out as detailed and of high quality.



n.d. Children's Mystery books, viewed 8 October, 2014
<http://www.childrensmysterybooks.org/>

This website has a brief  background and discussion of the appeal of mysteries for children. It includes a good book list and other resources aimed at getting children interested in reading mysteries. For example, there is a "Mystery challenge" page, challenging readers to read 6 books over a the summer.