The Maine Children’s and Young Adult Book Review Group is operated by Maine librarians and teachers who are interested in finding the best new books for young readers. These librarians participate in a process of reviewing and analyzing newly released books in order to identify the best titles of that year.

The Maine State Library receives almost 3,000 children’s and young adult review books from over 75 publishing houses each year. These books form the Maine Examination Collection of Children’s and Young Adult Books. Books in this collection are for preschool through grade twelve students, and is housed at the Maine State Library.

A “Cream of the Crop” Collection of the best titles published in the previous year is prepared for the Maine Regional Library System’s Reading Round-Up Conference in April each year. The Cream of the Crop list contains about 100 books for readers from preschool to high school. The list includes titles, authors, recommended age levels and annotations to help librarians make purchasing choices for their own libraries, and provide recommendations to their patrons. The Cream of the Crop list is also useful for educators and parents in finding the best books for young readers.