I have updated my review policy / about page. I think it’s a worthwhile thing to do every now and then because it provides you with up to date info about the context of this blog and of the author (Ed: who she?). Whilst the information there is worth a read (please do, if you’re wanting to understand the rationale behind what I post) I wanted to take a swift moment to reiterate a few key points.
- I very, very rarely do content submitted by third parties. I think I’ve done it once in the five years I’ve had this blog posted. This isn’t a comment on the quality of third party work; rather, it’s a comment on what I want this blog to be. The independence of it is very important to me. And whilst I acknowledge that its independence is an independence that is quite niche (cough elaborate discussions on the minutiae of the Chalet School cough), it’s an independence that I am happy to be responsible for and accountable too. And I should be. Everything that you see on this blog I stand by. Everything. Even the slightly poor html formatting. Even that.
- I receive books that I do not review and usually that’s because I can’t find the space in the discussion around that book to say what I want to say. The discourse around certain books sometimes becomes quite tight and it’s difficult to add something new to that discourse. The books that I do write about are books that I’m excited about. Thrilled about. Books that I want to write about and books that both let me write about them and need to be written about.
- And finally, a quick note about the reviews themselves. I believe very much in the nature of books being able to change lives. The right book at the right time can split worlds asunder with the force of a few printed words. That’s a miraculous, magical thing, and it’s something that I support. I hope that you get that, really, I hope that you get that because that’s what I want to give and that’s why I do this. I write about books, I blog about books, and I write books myself in order to get that moment to and for people. I don’t want people to be ever scared of books and I blog and write about them in order to break down that fear. I write about children’s books because literacy is one of the greatest superpowers we can ever have. I write about children’s books because they’re fascinating, complex beasts. I write about them because they excite me. I write about them because I can. And because I love them. It’s that simple.
Thanks for listening. Here’s a congratulatory Pikachu. Normal service’ll be resumed shortly 🙂
Daisy May Johnson 