Who Next …? A Guide to Children's Authors (4th ed.)

Citation

Barker, A. (2012), "Who Next …? A Guide to Children's Authors (4th ed.)", Library Management, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 195-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121211217243

When serving children in a library, many reader advisory queries can be fulfilled with a shiny new title, a good old horse story or a well‐worn copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. But on a daily basis, children's and school librarians alike are faced with the inevitable task of trying desperately to find the next great book for the child who has “read absolutely everything” or the child who has read the Harry Potter series six times and can't move on.

Who Next …?, now in its fourth edition, provides young readers with a list of 759 authors with recommendations to other authors who write in a similar style. Who Next …? does not review the works, but rather guides readers from their current favourite author on to a new one. Each entry includes the main author, themes that author writes about and then lists other authors who write in a similar fashion. The entries are grouped by age appropriateness (5‐7, 8‐11, 12‐14, 14+) but it is noted when an author crosses between these age groups. After the initial listing of authors, Who Next …? continues with even more information. Included is a helpful series of lists of authors grouped by theme such as animals, mythology, thrillers, social issues and sci‐fi, with each of these lists then broken down again by age appropriateness. Also included is a listing of 45 children's book prizes, a brief guide to children's graphic novels and suggested professional reading. Who Next …? is not the answer to every reader advisory question, but for those tricky young readers who lean towards particular themes or certain authors, this is a very valuable resource. New to this edition are references to authors who have produced e‐books, a small section about authors for young adults (14+), the category “easy readers” and information about authors who write short stories.

But this is not only a resource for reader advisory queries, librarians can also use Who Next …? in other ways. Between the covers of Who Next …? is information that can help anyone to quickly create their own themed displays, reading lists or even themed bookmarks. Also, as it is impossible for even the most seasoned librarian to be aware of every author, this guide fills any knowledge gaps by including authors from Europe, America, Australia and elsewhere.

The recent creation of a searchable online version of Who Next …? is an interesting alternative to the print version and can be found at www.whonextguide.com Schools and libraries need to subscribe to this service to make it available, but it could be useful as a tool to be used by multiple customers concurrently and from various locations. Anyone can sign up for a free trial period before making a purchase decision.

Overall Who Next …? would be a welcome and worthwhile addition to the collection of any children's or school library. It is accessible enough to not feel like a stuffy reference book but extensive enough to be incredibly useful. Librarians and patrons alike will discover multiple ways to use and reuse this resource to ultimately find their next great read.