Read, Remember, Recommend For Teens by Rachelle Rogers Knight

Title: Read, Remember, Recommend For Teens

Author: Rachelle Rogers Knight

Published: April 2010 by Sourcebooks Fire

Pages: 352

ISBN: 9781402237195

Source: Sent by Publisher for review

Description: Perfect for teens who love to read and those who need a companion for school assignments or summer reading programs, Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens offers more than 2400 award-winning and notable reading suggestions in many genres, cross-referenced to help parents and teens chose the right books for them.  This unique journal sold out its first print run, attracting readers with recommended lists for fiction, manga, historical fiction, romance, westerns, crime novels, and poetry, as well as nonfiction sections focusing on biography/ autobiography.  College-bound readers will find a section to help guide their reading selections. The journal also provides room to record books read, jot down thoughts and ideas, and keep track of recommendations, books to read next, and works by favorite authors. 

I Give This ...

I find it hard to rate and review a journal, but I'll give it my best shot.  This journal is an interesting idea, which is why I said yes when the publisher offered it to me.  At first flip through, I thought wow this is pretty awesome.  A good portion of the book is dedicated to awards and lists.  These include The National Book Award, Aesop Award, Urban Lit, Harry Potter read-alikes, and Fairy Tale retellings.  I feel this section is a tad overwhelming.  There doesn't seem to be a particular oder to it.  There's also just too much information here with no real way to weed through it.  There are no descriptions, or even cover photo's.  So basically, the title has to catch my interest and then go look the book up to see if I might be interested.  I have been going through it slowly and adding books to my to-read list.

The next sections are the journal pages.  As a teen, I might have used this more.  There is a to read section to mark down all the books you discover.  I can't imagine doing this by hand anymore.  I love goodreads way to much.  There are also journal pages which I've decided to give a shot.  I've never journaled about what I read before.  But, even these seem a little strange.  There are short forms that I tried to use, but there isn't enough space really.  Every few pages there are more detailed forms that I do like.  Although, I do use the words to define section for recording thoughts.  I do really like the passages to remember section.  I'm constantly finding quotes in books and think to myself, I should write that down.  But, I find myself think there might be a better way to do this.  I would use the loaner lists.  I can't tell you how many times I've lent out books only to forget who has them.

Overall, an interesting journal.  I will use it and I think it would make an excellent gift for teens or even adults who love to read.  I just think it could be trimmed down a little and maybe the journal pages could be reformatted somehow.