Expression: What, for you, is the role of a reviewer?
LM: That partly depends on the review medium. In Parenting, my main goal is to call attention to excellent new books that mothers (and I hope also fathers) will want to look for when they go to a bookstore or library. If I'm writing for the Times, I have the chance to put a new book - and possibly an entire career-in context. But in whatever the medium, I think a reviewer's main role is to respond as honestly and fully as possible to the book in hand, and to the extent possible to offer readers ideas and information that allow them to decide for themselves whether or not a given book suits them.

Expression: Whose interest do you ultimately have at heart?
LM: I feel an absolute obligation to be fair to the author and illustrator. If a book seems excessively arty or otherwise not really done with children in mind, I feel an obligation to the children and their parents to point this out. In general, I feel an obligation to my reader not only give my opinion but also to clearly explain my reasons for having come to that opinion.

Expression: What types of books do you review?
LM: Parenting covers books for babies through middle grade titles, with more books at the younger end. I'm asked most often to write about picture books by other publications, but lately I've been branching out. Poetry is a special interest of mine and I've just done a series of interviews with fantasy writers, so I am more attuned to fantasy than I used to be.

Expression: What makes a book stand out from the mass of published material you receive?
LM: Books that stand out have somehow reached their full potential. They feel whole - whether silly-whole or serious-whole or some other variety. It's hard to be very specific about this. But in picture books I think I can say that the element that most often feels missing is a strong emotional connection with the reader. So many of the picture books being published now seem not to try to go beyond looking and sounding "cool."

Expression: What qualities do you look for in an excellent novel?
LM: I remember reading Holes in galleys and feeling newly surprised on every page, and being just pulled forward by the power of the writing. I remember being blown away by the ambitious scope of Nancy Farmer's A Girl Named Disaster and Adele Giras' Troy. Paul Fleischman's Seek and Sonya Sones' Stop Pretending seemed amazing to me as experiments in form as well as for being such passionate explorations of family dynamics. I would have loved Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men just for being hilarious even if it hadn't also turned out to be so wise.

Expression: How many books do you receive a week to review? How many are you able
to review for Parenting?
LM: I receive dozens of books each week, a few thousand in a year. In Parenting, I can review only seven books each month.

Expression: How would you define a good reviewer?
LM: A good reviewer reviews the book he has read, not the book he wishes he'd read-or written himself. He tries to make every review a good piece of writing and to keep personalities out of it. And he writes every review as if his own reputation depended on it because it does.

Expression: How would you define a "good" review?
LM: It should start by showing an understanding of the author's intention, and the potential that he or she has set in motion. It should then say whether and to what extent that potential has been fulfilled.

Expression: What are the most influential review media in the US?
LM: Schools and libraries that can subscribe to only one review journal often pick Booklist or School Library Journal. As a result, a starred review in either of those publications is not just a feather in your cap but also a plus for sales. Fewer major newspapers review children's books than in the past; this probably means that the New York Times Book Review has gained in importance, although I don't know to what extent a good review there translates into strong sales.

Expression: How can authors and illustrators get reviews for their books?
LM: Some reviewers, including me, receive just about everything that is published. I pay attention to what comes in, put aside books that seem especially interesting, and then come up with a monthly list that is age-grade balanced. I also try to mix fiction and nonfiction, serious and less serious books, etc., and make sure that a number of publishers' books are represented. It's a balancing act to put together each of those lists. I think I can honestly say that no outside influences affect my decisions. So, the main advice would be to make sure that your publisher is sending your books out.

It's good to get to know your publicist. At a large house, someone within the publicity department will have been assigned to your book. At a smaller house, there may be just one person. Offer to be helpful by supplying contact names of local/regional review media that they might not already be aware of; also, information about the alumni magazines of schools you've attended; etc. If you have written a book about apples, there may a giant apple-growers trade organization that would be interested in promoting it, so try to find out about possibilities of that kind and tell your publisher about them. Remember that by the time your book's season of publication has passed, your publicist will have moved on to the next list and won't have much time for you anymore. So start collecting your ideas as early as possible, preferably six to nine months before publication, and then find out when the publicist will be ready to go to work for you.

Expression: What are you working on now?
LM: I'm finishing a book of conversations with writers of fantasy: Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, and several others. It will be out in the fall of 2005. Then it's back to my history of children's book publishing in the United States. I've got to finish that book soon, before too much more history happens, because that only means more work for me.