Advice to Feminist Teacher Book Reviewers

Book reviews are an important part of the ecology of publishing. They inform us of new books, films, and journals available for use in our scholarly and pedagogical work. In the case of reviews for a specific audience, the reviewer provides a certain kind of review for a certain kind of audience. Feminist Teacher reviews should be aimed at teaching feminists. Any book you receive from us has been chosen because it has potential for use in a teaching feminist’s classroom. At some point in every review, please take on the question of whether and how the book could be productively used in a teaching feminist’s classroom.

What else could be covered? If you know the author’s previous work, it could be helpful to briefly remind/inform readers of that work. If the book is decidedly different from other texts on the market on the subject or if it’s “more of the same,” please tell us. It often makes sense to describe the structure of the book; teachers can often tell to what degree a book might fit into what they are doing if they know its structure—especially in the case of anthologies. This is not to say that experienced teachers let texts drive structure—only that our readers appreciate knowing, especially in the case of anthologies, how content is structured and delivered.

For a review focused on one book, please do not exceed one thousand words. On occasion we publish review essays that focus on a number of books, journals, and/or films at a time; the length of these reviews should be negotiated by the reviewer and the book review editor [mbarron@truman.edu].

Reviews are generally due ninety days after you receive the book. But since Feminist Teacher has about one year’s worth of reviews in the queue for publication, just let me know [mbarron@truman.edu] if your review will be late.

Thanks for your willingness to take on the task of reviewing! Please feel free to contact me concerning reviewing for Feminist Teacher magazine!