Description of the Activity undertaken
For the topic of Young People Book Awards, I will do a book review of Laughter is the Best Ending by Maryam Master. This book is a junior fiction novel aimed at middle grade children. It won the 2025 CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers which makes it relevant for this topic.
What did I learn?
This professional development activity taught me how to read and analyse the book and to represent the information without spoiling it for someone who has never read it before. Vesife Hatisaru (2026)
described that book reviews provide a critical evaluation of the book that can serve as a commentary on whether or not the reviewer found it satisfactory or dissatisfactory.
Vesife Hatisaru (2026)
By learning how to write a book review, I can learn how to share the book in an engaging way that will allow a person to determine if they are interested in it.
How was the activity relevant to your professional practice working with children and/or young adults?
Learning how to write a book review for a children’s book can teach information professionals on how to write a short but concise summary of a book. Zachary Griffiths (2024)
in his conclusion reinforced that readers gain great benefits from reviews which helps them identify books before they fully commit to reading them.
Zachary Griffiths (2024)
This idea in practice can help children and or information professional in screening for books that are best suited for them.
What gaps in your knowledge were revealed and how might you fill those gaps
I did not know how to write a book review in the manner in which Vesife Hatisaru (2026) described that they are commentaries that can provide genuine benefit not only to the source material but can
“create a culture of critical reading and reflection” (pg. 1).
Vesife Hatisaru (2026)
By learning how to write a book review, I can better serve children who are searching for books that interest them.
I will fill my knowledge gap of how to write book review by learning and writing book reviews such as the one I did for this professional development activity. But I also engaged with online resources such as The Writing Centre (2026)
which has resources on how to write a book review and they have provided a great example, tips, and served as a great guide.
The Writing Centre (2026)
By drawing learning from resources online I can refine and add to my writing skills.
Discussion of the relevance of Professional Development Activity to topic.
The book review activity is crucial as it centres on a CBCA award winning book that is relevant to children. Oliver S Crocco (2024)
argued that book reviews allow people to reflect on how they can communicate to others in their reaction and opinion in an academic and relevant way.
Oliver S Crocco (2024)
Undergoing book review as my professional development activity has allowed me to understand how to write a book review. By doing a review on a young people’s book award has highlighted key details and features of that book that can be presented via the review in an engaging manner that can connect with the person and invite them to explore the novel themself.
References
Crocco, O. S., & Zarestky, J. (2024). [Rev. of Why Scholars and Students Should Write Book Reviews]. New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 36(2), 152–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/19394225241247907
Griffiths, Z. (2024). How to Write a Book Review. Military Review, 104, 35–42. https://www.proquest.com/docview/3108399232/fulltextPDF/7F0784C4391940F3PQ/1?accountid=10344&sourcetype=Trade%20Journals
Hatisaru, V. (2026). [Rev. of What is a book review? Why (and how) to write a book review?]. Research in Mathematics Education, 28(1), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794802.2026.2658269
The Writing Centre. (2026). Book Reviews. Tips-and-tools. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/book-reviews/
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