Book Reviewing Policy

Image courtesy of Black Star Books

Hey publicists, authors, and illustrators!

I'm on the hunt for Black children's books, and right now I'm especially keen to read good quality first chapter books for children aged 5-7. Also, I'm always happy to chat about potential promo collabs including author/illustrator QnAs, and blog tours. 

If you'd like to send me a title for review, I'm currently accepting books of all genres that fit this brief:

• Black main protagonist: 'Black' defined as a person of African/Caribbean ancestry including mixed-heritage.
• 3-11 age range: I review books to promote their use in primary schools and early years settings. 
• British author/illustrator/editor: Ideally 'own-voice' works from Black British creatives. 
• I only accept US/rest-of-the-world titles if they are picture books.
• I don't mind if the book is from your dust-gathering backlist. If it's good—and not full of stereotypes—I'd love to read it!
• I am no longer accepting self-published books. Do check out the new Jericho Prize for Children's Writing as you might be able to submit your work to this instead. 

If you send me a book that doesn't fit the above, eg a YA title, I won't have time to do anything other than give it a cursory glance. If it looks good, I'll try to post an Instagram story for you, but I can't promise. 😊

If I discover content in your book that I believe is offensive or inappropriate for children I won’t write a review of your book as I won't be prepared to publicise in any form. It will however be logged with comments and a red warning on my Black Children’s Book Directory, which is accessible to the public. 

My process

My book reviews tend to be detailed and I make links to the EYFS and primary national curriculum learning objectives where appropriate. I also scrutinise texts according to a specific set of criteria: Jericho Benchmark. 

This is because I need to be satisfied that ethnic representation is of a high standard before recommending your book to primary schools/preschools. Do take a look at the CLPE's latest Reflecting Realities Report if you are unsure why this is important. If you don't want honest, constructive, and considered feedback on ethnic representation then, perhaps, I'm not the right reviewer for you!

All books I read are added to my Black Children's Book Directory which is publicly accessible via my website. 

I now encourage readers to buy books from Black-owned independent book stores, such as Black Star Books, Round Table Books, Letter Box Library, Book Love, or via my affiliate Bookshop.  

I look forward to receiving your wonderful inclusive books!

Candid Cocoa

Support

If you find my blog useful and would like to support my mission to get more quality Black children's texts into UK primary schools, then you can buy me a coffee here. As an unemployed mum, your donations, however small, will mean I can afford to devote more time to this mission. It will also enable me to continue to promote small independent bookstores instead of linking reviews to Amazon. I really appreciate any support you can offer. Thank you! Fabia x

Contact me

You can reach me via the contact form on my home page. Alternatively, find me on Instagram @candidcocoa or on Twitter @Kwia35. My DMs are open!