Excellent Books for Early and Eager Readers. By Kathleen T. Isaacs. Chicago: ALA, 2016. 264 p. Paper $52 (ISBN: 0-8389-1344-4).

Excellent Books for Early and Eager Readers is a standout readers’ advisory tool for all children’s librarians. Every children’s librarian struggles with placing the right book in the hands of the early and eager reader. In this reviewer’s many years as a selector of children’s literature, she has not come across a bibliography that fills a need so well.

Isaacs begins her definition of “early and eager readers” by recalling “The Book Whisper,” a blogger who calls these children “underground readers” (2). In chapter 2, Isaacs discusses the criteria for what makes a good read for these readers, including various book awards presented for fiction and nonfiction books. She also discusses the parameters that were used in selecting the books in this bibliography. One chapter, focused on transitional reading, provides a list of children’s favorites for the reader to explore. The remaining chapters are based mainly on the appeal of the book—type of plot, compelling characters, humor, magic, traditional tales, and historical fiction, among others. For each annotation, the author gives an interest level (that is, younger, middle, or older), the book’s Lexile measure, and a genre. The entries are ethnically diverse and include both classic and current literature. A delightful and thorough description of each book, along with comments that place the book in context, will help guide the librarian in the selection for the student or child. Best of all, many sequels are included, with year of publication (unless the series is extensive, like Magic Tree House, for example), so that the librarian can hand the whole series to the eager reader. The book ends with a subject index and an exhaustive author and title index.

This book is of interest to all public and elementary school librarians, as well as parents, grandparents, and caregivers of early and eager readers. Librarians should shelve this must-have book in ready reference so it is easy to grab when parents come in looking for age-appropriate books for young children on a higher reading level.—Jenny Foster Stenis, Readers’ Services Coordinator, Pioneer Library System, Norman, Oklahoma