About ChildrensLit

Children’s Literature has been reviewing children’s and young adult literature since 1993, when founded by librarian Marilyn Courtot. Over 100,000 reviews later, Children’s Literature still holds the largest collection of children's and YA book reviews in the reviewing industry. Our reviews are licensed to booksellers, libraries, and literature databases. Children’s Literature is a CLCD Company- a company focused on providing children’s and YA literature information through an array of products.

Our reviewers include librarians, writers and editors, professors, teachers, children’s literature specialists, children’s book authors, and physicians. Currently, we review over 2,000 books per year from a variety of publishers and now include self-published book reviews. We pride ourselves on being an independent review source that is not affiliated with any specific publisher. Accepted books for review come from small, medium, and large publishing houses.

Our mission is to review a wide variety of children’s and young adult titles from a wide variety of voices. We do so with several goals in mind. One, that every child and teen find themselves represented in literature. Two, that they learn about and respect others that are different from themselves. Three, that they are exposed to enjoyable fiction and nonfiction to help educate, provide understanding, and inspire.

ChildrensLit.com has been a top 10 website on Google for over 15 years. Our website provides authors and illustrators opportunities to establish an identity, readers to find reviews and author information, and librarians and event coordinators to identify authors and illustrators for visits.

Whether you are an aspiring author, seasoned librarian, or new parent, our website is a great place to find information about the latest books and creators in the field of children’s and YA literature.

Dr. Ajay Gupte, current owner and president of Children’s Literature Review Source, thanks former owners Marilyn Courtot and Emily Griffin who grew Children’s Literature to be a long-standing robust children’s and YA book review source. Marilyn and Emily created and cultivated an excellent resource that librarians and booksellers counted on to make book-buying decisions. Along with his staff and reviewers, Dr. Gupte will continue Marilyn and Emily’s work by helping teachers, librarians, parents, and childcare providers make appropriate children's literary choices.

Amanda is the author of five children's books and the 2018 gold medal recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Book Award. She lives with her husband, son, daughter, and a farm-full of animals in rural Minnesota.

Elisabeth was a kid with her nose in a book and lucky enough to live in France. Then, she was a student, still reading and studying foreign languages as well as sociology. Elisabeth was an international school teacher in Japan, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. Along the way, she got married, had children, and became a travel and feature writer for magazines.

Heather is the district and high school librarian for Portales Municipal Schools. She earned her BA in English Literature from the University of Wyoming and her MLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Heather has taught in public schools for over seven years and is a past chair of New Mexico’s Advocacy for School Libraries.

A reader for life, Joyce has served as a librarian/media specialist for kindergarten through college-age students for over 32 years. She has served in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. She has been a reviewer since 1999 with ChildrensLit.

Katie currently works in private practice to mentor students with executive functioning and language processing challenges. She also writes stories and cross-curricular lessons to engage young minds with big ideas and does writing work for hire in addition to reviewing kidlit & other books. Katie is fueled by faith and laughter.

Mary is a library professional in Denver, Colorado, with a passion for children's literature and services. She enjoys exploring with her husband and their daughter.

Megan is an Elementary Media Specialist and married with two sons and two fluffy dogs. She loves to read children's literature, visit Walt Disney World, and is an avid Atlanta Braves Baseball fan.

RevaBeth is a retired high school science teacher. Since she still loves to be around kids and learn, she currently is a substitute teacher.

Shereen is the Director of Education at the Hindu American Foundation and has been an educator for over ten years. She loves reading, especially biographies and books that teach her about different cultures.

Uma is a children's writer--picture book through middle grade. She is also on faculty in the MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Uma lives in Victoria, BC, Canada.