An adult's review

It's been a while since my last confession, so here'’s another: You know those book reviews on Amazon.com that are signed "A Kid'’s Review"”? I don'’t like '’em.

I don'’t like the way the individual writers of these reviews are lumped into this single, cookie-cutter category, as if the fact that the anonymous reviewer is "“a kid"” tells us everything we need to know -- or anything, really --– about the perspective he or she brings to the book in question.

I don'’t like the forced-march vibe these reviews so often give off, a vibe I assume is due to teachers doling these out as class assignments --– the beloved book report brought into the modern, e-commerce era. Any time the page count is presented as a salient fact about a book, you know you'’re not reading something written from the heart.

And I don'’t like the fact that writing these reviews took up time these young writers could have spent creating a story of their own, or reacting to a book they liked --– or didn'’t like --– in some other, more sincere, more personal, more creative way.

You know, like posting about them on their blogs.