This study examines whether Goodreads reviews offer supplementary insight for multicultural children’s collection development in public libraries. The sample included titles recognized by American Library Association Youth Media Awards. Using sentiment, correlation, and qualitative content analyses, the study compared reader sentiment with Goodreads ratings and examined themes in review narratives. Ratings and sentiment did not consistently align. Neutral or negative reviews could reflect engagement with difficult themes, representation, historical context, and curricular relevance rather than dissatisfaction alone. Goodreads reviews may therefore provide cultural, educational, and emotional context not captured by numerical ratings when used alongside established professional selection tools.
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Choi et al. (2026) studied this question.
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