Submit to relevant trade-review outlets
Confirm a children's review submission
For books for children and teens, confirm that the publisher submitted prepublication to The Horn Book and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, the two specialist review sources.
Authors often hire help with this: publicity or marketing.
Why it matters
Youth librarians and educators read The Horn Book and BCCB alongside School Library Journal, and reviews in these outlets are often the ones award committees and reading-list compilers notice. For a children's or young adult title, being in front of their editors before publication is part of a complete library-facing plan.
Your part
- What you do
- Verify. Someone else may do it. Inspect the result yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author. Publisher submits; author verifies
- When
- Prepublication; confirm the current lead time for each outlet (Submit to relevant trade-review outlets: six to three months before publication, against each outlet's own deadline)Checked September 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Beyond School Library Journal, two specialist outlets review children's and young adult books and are read closely by youth librarians, teachers, and award committees. The Horn Book publishes The Horn Book Magazine and The Horn Book Guide, which together aim to cover a broad slice of each season's youth publishing. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB), published at the University of Illinois, is smaller and known for its pointed, curriculum-aware reviews. Both are editorial consideration: publishers submit, editors decide, and not every book is reviewed.
Both work prepublication and want copies well ahead of publication. The Horn Book runs on a seasonal schedule; BCCB posts its lead time for publishers. Because both change their rules, check the current pages rather than trusting a remembered number.
The publisher submits. Children's publishers of any size usually have both outlets on their standing list; your task is to verify that your title went and when. For a hybrid author, ask the press specifically about each outlet. For a self-published author, both outlets have historically considered publisher submissions, so read the current policy and be prepared to redirect to outlets with an open independent route if the answer is no.
This item applies only to books for children, middle grade, and young adult readers.
Common mistakes
- Assuming SLJ coverage makes the specialist outlets unnecessary. They serve overlapping but distinct readers.
- Relying on an old lead time instead of the current seasonal schedule.
- Forgetting BCCB because it is smaller than The Horn Book.
- Sending finished books at launch, after the prepublication window has closed.
What done looks like
- Confirmation from the publisher that copies went to The Horn Book and BCCB, with dates.
- Submissions made within each outlet's current prepublication lead time.
- Both submissions logged with route and outcome.
- Links to any reviews saved for school and library outreach and award entries.
Evidence. Done means someone says the work happened. Verified means you checked the confirmation, link, or public record yourself.
Ask your publisher
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Sources and last checked
- Official source
- Official source (opens in a new tab)
- Last checked
- September 13, 2026
- How confident we are
- Verified
Rules and deadlines change. We last checked this information on September 13, 2026. If you see something that needs updating, please tell us.