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January 1, 2015
Working with patrons who want to broaden their reading experiences? Or a way to escape a reading rut? Search no further. LJ columnist McArdle, author of the website genrify.com, has created a readers' advisory text with a twist. This work presents seven basic genres: adrenaline, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, and sf. In addition to the basic description of each category, McArdle expands beyond the basic RA guide by showing how librarians can assist patrons who want to expand their reading experiences. Readers comfortable with one genre can easily be led to a sampling of another. Chapters cover a specific genre and then show how each one can be blended into the others. For each mashup, McArdle provides a synopsis of several titles followed by two additional works to expand the experience further. Advice on how and when to suggest a blend adds to the usefulness of the text. The author also gives practical steps for promoting blends using the entire collection including media and nonfiction. VERDICT RA veterans will appreciate this approach to helping patrons stretch their reading muscles, while RA novices will wish more titles were included.--Lydia Olszak, Bosler Memorial Lib., Carlisle, PA
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 15, 2014
This addition to ALA's popular Readers' Advisory series of guides and how-to books is one of the most welcome and necessary to the set in particular and the field of readers' advisory in general. Genre blending is one of the more delightful conundrums readers' advisors face in popular reading, and this guide helps both novices and experts. McArdle supplies an excellent definition of genre blending and differentiates between mash-up, crossover, and slipstream, terms that appear interchangeable with genre blending but really are not. The exceptional introduction addresses the challenges libraries face when cataloging, shelving, and marketing genre as well as the issues publishers also face with genre blends. Don't skip this part, even though readers will want to delve into any one of the seven chapters on blends. Each chapter provides an overview of a genre's most recognizable elements and then a segment on why this genre lends itself well to blending with another genre. Instead of read-alikes, the author offers reading paths suggested titles that tempt readers with tasty biblio-breadcrumbs into other genres. A chapter on Whole Collection Blends helps staff suggest blended combinations using the best elements of movies, TV, audiobooks, and graphic novels. For staff-training purposes, go right to the chapter Readers' Advisory for Blends, which addresses promotion, collection development, and the readers'-advisory conversation with patrons. An appendix featuring Literary Fiction Blends offers outstanding examples of works that cleverly incorporate elements of genre with full-bodied characters, complex plots, and elevated language. As difficult as this segment of fiction is to define, an entire chapter would have been most welcome.Point readers to genrify.com, the author's website devoted to genre blending, for further-reading suggestions. An essential purchase for professional readers'-advisory collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
March 1, 2015
This recent entry in the ALA Editions "Readers' Advisory Guide" series focuses on books that blend genres. The book discusses the nature of blended books and the challenges they pose for libraries, includes chapters on all the major genres with examples of blends, and focuses on RA tips for blended books. A companion website with an interactive database of genre blends can be found at blender.genrify.com. (Professional Media, LJ 1/15)
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.