Founded in 2020.
What does LLLAB stand for?
The Language Learner Library Advisory Board. (We pronounce the acronym like the English word “lab.”)
What is LLLAB’s Mission Statement?
The mission of the Language Learner Literature Advisory Board (LLLAB) is to provide well-rounded feedback about Classroom Library material as it pertains to race, ethnicity, cultures, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, religion, family structure, neurodiversity, body types, abilities, and experiences. The board is composed of a group of diverse members that are well-advanced in their field and can provide trustworthy information to help dismantle social inequalities and support teachers and authors in developing and curating culturally-sustaining reading material.
We are committed to (un)learning and welcome feedback and suggestions for honoring and validating everyone’s identities, experiences, and realities.
Members are committed to a school year-length term (August-July). Leadership is elected every year. General Board members can renew their membership every year.
How many times per year do members meet?
At least once a month.
How many language-learner books are reviewed per year?
Our goal is to publish 10-20 reviews a year.
How are books selected?
Books are randomly selected from this list (previous list 2019-2025).
New in 2025: Half of our annual reviews will be drawn from a list compiled by our audience. Feel free to make a suggestion with this link.
Why haven’t you reviewed [name of book]?
Because the books that our group reviews are selected randomly from a list of the readers currently available, we cannot guarantee that any specific title has been reviewed by LLLAB. We encourage you to read every book that you are interested in putting in your classroom library.
I am looking for a review of a book in one language, but LLLAB has only reviewed the book in a different language. Are the reviews for books published in multiple languages the same?
No, each review is written about the specific edition produced in the specific language. Changes in language can produce changes in linguistic and cultural nuance, and the transposition of setting that sometimes occurs in cases like these can also greatly change the cultural contexts of a given work. A review about the same book in a different language may provide some guidance for the representations in the target book, but we encourage you to read the book in your target language to see how the identities present in the book are portrayed in your target language.
What is the review process?
- Members are paired by language and review one or two books a month, selected randomly.
- Members use a review template which was created based on reading guides by various Equity Centers (see below).
- Reviews are presented to the board, revised and clarified by the group, and must be unanimously approved before being posted.
- Reviews are then released on this website.
How did you create your review template/process?
We relied on three main sources by trusted Equity Centers:
- Reading Diversity: A tool for selecting diverse text (Teaching Tolerance)
- Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard (Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools)
- Guidelines and questions to use when selecting inclusive and identity-affirming content (The Conscious Kid)
Are you providing starred ratings for books?
No. We leverage the diversity of our board membership to offer thoughtful reviews of the representations of identities in books. We seek to produce descriptive reviews, not ratings of quality or “Board approval.” Reading can have many purposes, and as such, the books LLLAB reviews can be used in instruction in a variety of ways at the discretion of the individual educator.
How do you maintain impartiality?
As human beings, we all have bias. To ensure as much impartiality as possible we created two distinct checkpoints in the process:
- Two reviewers per book
- Full board approval needed in order to publish a review on our website
We also remove board members from the reviewing process if they have been involved in the publication of the book in any capacity: beta reader, copy editor, proof reading, or authorship.
How do I search for a book, a specific theme, or a proficiency level?
Use the search bar at the bottom of each page to look for a book. Additionally, each review has several tags, including themes and proficiency levels. Click on a tag to find similar books.
LLLAB does not guarantee unique word count because there is no standard across publishers/authors. For the unique word count, please contact the author/publisher or check their website.
How can I get in touch with LLLAB?
Contact us here.
What if I want to report an error?
Please do let us know as soon as possible here. Make sure to reference the title of the book in your message.
LLLAB 