The Children’s and Young Adult Book Review Board of Missouri, known and loved familiarly as the BRB, has released its annual report for 2017. The BRB, an initiative of the MSU Libraries, promotes and champions children’s and young adult literature, focusing on multicultural and series titles.

In 2017, the BRB expanded its outreach efforts, presenting workshops on how to write a great book review for teachers and their students throughout the state. With an emphasis on 21st century skills, BRB staff and volunteers work with students to edit and revise their reviews for publication, and help them create iMovies and WeVideos. The BRB now has over 500 reviews written by tweens and teens in the BRB database, along with numerous videos on the BRB website!

Complementing its 3rd Annual Book Sale, the BRB initiated ‘pop-up’ book sales on the MSU campus and added a holiday book sale stretching over 2 weeks in the Infant through Grade 12 area of Meyer Library. This increased sales by over 55%! Proceeds help fund BRB workshops and cover operating costs. Some statistics:

• Expanded book sales to include ‘pop-up’ sales – net sales of $1170.71 in CY17 ($723.67 in CY16)
• 6396 total BRB reviews currently accessible to the public
• 1684 titles added from publishers valued at $29,815.98
• 261 titles donated to Infant-Grade 12 Resources of Meyer Library, valued at over $4,408.69
• 231 titles donated to Greenwood Laboratory School, valued at over $4,196.97
• 1611 individuals have donated their time reviewing for the BRB since 2001