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TL 15.2.indd The Teaching Librarian volume 15, no. 2 15 Professional ResourcesTL The Librarian's Guide to Developing Christian Fiction Collections for Young Adults Barbara J. Walker Neal-Schuman, 2005 ISBN 10: 1555705456 ISBN 13: 9781555705459 $66.00 In 1998, Walker wrote Developing a Christian Fiction Collection for Chil- dren and Adults: Selection Criteria and a Core Collection. In an ef- fort to update this work, she has now published three more focused books, one each on collec- tions for children, young adults, and adults. The young adult title, The Librarian's Guide to Developing Chris- tian Fiction Collections for Young Adults, is the focus of this review. The book is divided into three sections. Part One, Essential Background, in- troduces and explains Christian Fiction, discus- ses the building of the collection, and offers sug- gestions for marketing the collection. Part Two, A Recommended Core Col- lection for Young Adults, suggests key book titles and series titles in a var- iety of genres and pro- vides a list of the top 40 DVDs and videos. Part Three, Collection Develop- ment Resources, provides information about Chris- tian Fiction award win- not librarians. In short, every effort was made to tap both library and re- ligious expertise in order to provide a reliable, authoritative guide to li- brary services, programs, and collections for reli- gious youth. While the American focus will have to be supple- mented with Canadian information about both demographics and resour- ces, Reaching Out is a useful starting point for Canadian teacher-librari- ans. Although written for public librarians, Rea- ching Out will also be of interest and use to teacher-librarians, particularly at the middle school and high school levels. Canadian schools, especially in urban areas, typically in- clude students from many religious backgrounds, all of whom should feel themselves included in their school libraries. Reaching Out will help teacher-librar- ians make that happen. As a bonus, this book will be a useful resource for the grade 11 World Religions course! This is an essential purchase for district col- lections. Highly recom- mended reading for mid- dle school and high school teacher-librarians--buy school library copies if necessary. If budget is a concern, then Reaching Out to Religious Youth Reaching Out to Religious Youth includes chapters on both Christian and non-Christian faiths, se- lected based on the number of American adherents to these faiths. The faiths included are: Protestantism, Evangel- ical Christianity, Roman Catholicism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints, Orthodox Christianity, Seventh-Day Adventists, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Many of the ideas and suggestions can be applied to meeting the needs of other religious groups as well. Each chapter in- cludes backgro- und information about the faith (including his- tory, doctrine, common mis- c o n c e p t i o n s and stereotypes, and the forma- tive experiences faced by teens), as well as suggestions for library programming and collec- tion development (inclu- ding bibliographies of suggested materials). Whenever possible, the editors chose contribu- tors who were both librarians and practicing members of the faith about which they were writing. A few of the contributors are librar- ians who don't have the religious background, in which case the chapter was vetted by religious experts, and a few of the contributors are reli- gious experts who are ners, authors, publishers, and review sources. It should be noted that Christian, as used by those describing Chris- tian Fiction, is rather narrowly defined to incl- ude only evangelical Protestantism. While the fiction might appeal to readers outside this group, this is the target audience. Public schools include students from diverse reli- gious backgrounds, inclu- ding evangeli- cal Christianity. Teacher-librar- ians interested in developing inclusive collec- tions will want to consider all of these groups-- in so far as budget allows--and The Librarian's Guide to Dev- eloping Christian Fiction Collections for Young Adults will help teacher-librarians target an often-neglected group of students. This is an essential pur- chase for teacher-librar- ians in Christian schools. Recommended for district professional collections in public school boards. Reaching Out to Religious Youth: A Guide to Services, Programs, and Collections L. Kay Carman, editor Libraries Unlimited, 2004 ISBN 10: 0313320411 ISBN 13: 9780313320415 $48.00