A full book review may concern only one book or monograph or several works. Its length is about 750-1000 words. It should give readers an engaging, informative, and critical discussion of the work. The review should follow the Guidelines below.
The most important point in developing a book review is to address the Journal’s readership: international and interdisciplinary. The review should consider:
- The intended audience for the book and who would find it useful;
- The background of the author;
- The main ideas and objectives of the book and how effectively these are accomplished;
- The soundness of methods and information sources used;
- The context or impetus for the book – political controversy, review research or policy, etc.;
- A comparison with other works on this subject;
- Constructive comments about the strength and weaknesses of the book;
- For edited books: dominant themes with reference to specific chapters as appropriate; and implications of the book for research, policy, practice, or theory.
The header of your review should include:
- Author(s) or editor(s) first and last name(s) (please indicate if it is an edited book)
- Title of book
- Year of publication
- Place of publication
- Publisher
- Number of pages
- Price (please indicate paperback or hard cover) if available
- ISBN
At the end of your review, please include:
- Your first and last name
- Institutional affiliation
- A brief biographical note along the line of:Breile Yahgis received her (degree) in (field) from….She is currently….[Where she teaches/conducts research/practices in….] Her interests include…etc.
Style Guidelines
- All references should be made in-text, rather than as footnotes or endnotes. These references should take the following form: (Smith 1999). If it is necessary to cite a particular page number, the reference should be in the following form: (Smith 1999, 27).
- Any such in-text references should be included in a separate Reference List, as shown in the following examples. (Please note capitalization and punctuation conventions.)
Book:
Holloway, Sarah and Gill Valentine, eds. (2000). Children’s Geographies: Playing, Living, Learning. London and New York: Routledge.
Book Chapter:
Jencks, Christopher and Susan Mayer(1990). “The Social Consequences of Growing up in a Poor Neighborhood.” In Lynn, Laurence and Michael McGeary, eds. Inner-City Poverty in the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 111-186.
Journal Article:
Gallagher, Claire B. (2004). “Our Town: Children as Advocates for Change in the City.” Childhood 11(2): 251-262
CAJ is an interdisciplinary journal. Authors must communicate to a wide audience with many readers in fields other than their own. Language must, therefore, be direct and void of unnecessary jargon and technical terms. Use the active voice as much as possible.