Rise: A Feminist Book Project
Policies & Procedures
Last revised January 2023
Charge
To select recently-published books with significant feminist content for young people from birth to age 18, and to annotate the selected titles.
Purpose of the List
The list presents well-written and well-illustrated books with significant feminist content published in the past eighteen months that are recommended for young people from birth through 18 years of age.
Fiction and nonfiction should have readable text and a format appealing to young readers. Titles must be accurate and able to stand on their own. Although the list attempts to present a variety of reading tastes and levels, no effort will be made to balance the list according to subject, area of interest, age, or genre.
Target Audience
The list is prepared for the use of young people from birth through 18 years of age. Adults who work with young readers may also find it of interest.
Nominations
Books may be recommended by anyone through the field recommendation process (described in the “Field Recommendations” section below), but books can only be officially nominated for the list by regular committee members.
A book must be read in its entirety by the nominator before it is nominated. Titles may be nominated from advance copies, but the finished copy must be read by at least one committee member before the book is discussed during deliberations.
Nominations must include a complete citation (following the format provided by the co-chairs), a brief annotation (1 or 2 sentences), and an explanation of the book’s feminist content. The citation and annotation should also be posted publicly to the committee blog.
The deadline for nominations is midnight (local time) on October 15.
Field Recommendations
Any reader may recommend a title to the committee. The process for submitting a field recommendation will be detailed on the committee blog. Field recommendations must be received by September 15. Recommended books must be read and nominated by a regular committee member to be eligible for the list. We encourage readers to review the committee’s criteria carefully before submitting recommendations.
Eligibility
A book must have a copyright date during the current calendar year or have been published from July to December of the previous calendar year to be eligible for nomination. Any book which was discussed at any point during the previous Rise deliberations is not eligible for nomination the following year.
Books must be distributed in the United States to be eligible for nomination. A book originally published outside the United States may be considered eligible according to its U.S. publication date.
Books which are revisions of previously published titles will be considered if the revision makes the book substantially different from the previous edition.
Books written or illustrated by current committee members are not eligible for nomination.
Committee Members
Rise: A Feminist Book Project consists of eleven committee members. Members are appointed by the co-chairs of Rise on a staggered basis to maintain a balance of new and continuing members.
Members must actively seek books, nominate suitable titles, read the books nominated by others, and attend Rise Virtual Deliberations to actively participate in discussion on the nominated titles and reach consensus on the books to be included in the year’s Rise List. Member attendance at Rise Virtual Deliberations to participate in discussion is mandatory. Failure to attend may result in removal from the committee at the co-chairs’ discretion.
Members of the project do not need to be members of the Feminist Task Force but are encouraged to join.
New members are appointed to a probationary one-year term; after completion of the first year, members may be reappointed at the discretion of the co-chairs to the Project for a two-year term. Following this two-year term, the committee member may elect to participate for one additional year. After four years’ service, unless they are currently serving or asked to serve as co-chair, members are asked to take a one-year hiatus.
Past members may apply to be put on the list for membership consideration after their one-year hiatus. If an applicant who has completed a non-probationary term on the committee is accepted by the co-chairs as a repeat committee member, they do not serve a one-year probation. The repeat member begins immediately with a two-year term, after which they may elect to participate for one additional year. Unless they are currently serving or asked to serve as a co-chair, a repeat member may not sit on the committee for longer than three years without taking a one-year hiatus.
Committee Co-chairs
The charge of Rise: A Feminist Book Project is facilitated by two co-chairs. The co-chairs share the responsibilities of moderating group discussion at the Rise Virtual Deliberations; interviewing and selecting new committee members; responding to inquiries about the project made to the project email or through other avenues; attending to business matters; communicating with publishers and members regarding nominated books and committee functions; and potentially coordinating an event at the ALA Annual Conference, possibly in conjunction with another book selection committee. The Rise co-chairs report to the coordinator(s) of the Feminist Task Force on the activities and status of Rise: A Feminist Book Project.
The Rise co-chairs seek to build the capacity of committee members to contribute to the project charge and to increase awareness of the committee’s work. The co-chairs share the privilege and responsibility of reading, nominating, discussing, and voting on books with the other committee members.
Each co-chair serves the Rise committee for two years. Their terms are offset, creating a senior (second-year) co-chair and a junior (first-year) co-chair. By the end of Rise Virtual Deliberations, co-chairs will choose an incoming co-chair from among those members eligible and interested in becoming co-chair. If multiple members are eligible and interested, current co-chairs may request that interested members submit answers to questions or engage in interviews at some point during the preceding year to help them choose an incoming co-chair.
The outgoing senior co-chair will end their term following the publication and distribution of the year’s list, including contacting publisher and author honorees. As the immediate past co-chair, they will then continue to serve as a resource to the current co-chairs, but they are not required to attend the Rise Virtual Deliberations. Following a one-year hiatus, former co-chairs may apply to be put on the list for membership consideration.
Polling and Consensus
Committee members will vote in an online straw poll in mid-November prior to Rise Virtual Deliberations, with the precise date to be announced by the co-chairs. Committee members may vote Yes (a book meets all criteria and should be included on the Rise list), No (the book fails to meet one or more criteria and should not be included on the list), or Maybe on each book they have read. If they have not read a title, the committee member fills in the vote as Not Read. Members continue to update the straw poll until Rise Virtual Deliberations. A formal poll will be taken at the beginning of Rise Virtual Deliberations.
The final discussion and selection will be conducted during Rise Virtual Deliberations. Members must have read books in order to discuss and vote on them. To be considered for the list, a book must have a quorum of readers, a majority of committee members having read and prepared to discuss the book. Members are asked to disclose personal and professional connections to nominated titles and to recuse themselves from voting and discussion when a significant conflict of interest exists. The co-chairs are available to help members discern the best course of action.
Members must be present at the meetings to lend their voice to each consideration on the list. When offering support or objection to a title, members must be specific about why a title does or does not meet criteria for feminist content, quality, and age appeal. The final list is not limited to a certain number of fiction or nonfiction titles, nor is it limited to a certain number of titles for different age groups.
When the recommended list of feminist books for young readers has been determined, the bibliographic information for each title will be rigorously checked for accuracy and the annotation collaboratively composed and edited for brevity and clarity by committee members. An introduction to the list will be collaboratively written that reflects the nature of that year’s list.
Availability of Lists for General Distribution
The Top Ten list will be announced at LibLearnX, and the complete final list will be available online and distributed to ALA-ODLOS, FTF, and Booklist within three days of the close of LibLearnX. Other print and non-print media will be used to publicize the list, such as magazines directed at children and teens, women, families, and library professionals.
Year’s Schedule
Shortly after the LibLearnX, co-chairs will interview and select new members for the list, seeking to balance diversity of perspective and diversity of young people served (geographic distribution, type of library, community, and age group experience/ current contact). The most important criteria for new members will be their demonstrated commitment to feminism and their demonstrated commitment to young people, including providing quality books for youth between birth and 18 years of age. Potential members should be apprised of the commitment entailed in the responsibilities of this committee’s work.
The month(s) following Rise Virtual Deliberations and LibLearnX
The co-chairs will submit a roster of current committee members to the committee and the publishers, including the criteria for the books. Committee members will begin reading and analyzing books, submitting nominations as suitable. All nominations will follow the process described above. A comprehensive list of all nominated titles will be maintained by committee members in a common online format. Committee members may also provide the co-chairs with information about books that might be appropriate so that co-chairs can request review copies.
February/March: The Rise list is published in Booklist (historically, in the preface to Women’s History Month article).
March: Submit to FTF plans and description for any desired event at Annual (see below).
Annual Conference: the committee members may elect to present an event at Annual Conference. Work on this can be done via email/telephone.
Committee members who attend Annual will seek out books at the exhibits to determine any that might be suitable for committee consideration and acquaint publisher reps with the work of the committee. Titles and publishers of promising titles will be recommended to the chair for request of review copies.
September/October: Submit specs for upcoming Rise Virtual Deliberations meetings to FTF: all tech requirement details, accessibility requirements, information for the Scheduler, and any other information requested.
October 15: Deadline for nominations, midnight local time.
Mid-November: Committee members will conduct a “straw poll” of the nominated books. Any books on which all members vote No will be stricken from consideration.
Rise Virtual Deliberations (January)
Committee members meet to discuss nominated books and reach consensus on the final list. Any business that should be addressed by the whole committee is conducted at these meetings as well.
An initial vote is taken, and books with an immediate consensus “yes” or “no” are set aside. Each remaining title is discussed. Decisions are made by consensus, meaning that each member is willing to “live with” the decision. If consensus cannot be reached, one member of the group can agree to willingly stand aside to allow the collective process to move forward. In truly adverse circumstances, the group can agree (by consensus) to a super-majority voting rule for a specific title. The group tries to avoid this impasse. Committee members must be present at the meetings to participate in the discussion.
Once a decision has been reached on every title, the committee will jointly prepare final annotations, verify bibliographic information, and write the introduction for the list. Following the composition of the list, the committee will publicize the list and contact the authors/published whose works appear on it.
Before Rise Virtual Deliberations, the co-chairs will work with committee members to ensure that a finished copy of every nominated book is available to at least one committee member during discussions.
Books that were provided as publisher review copies for the work of the committee may not be sold for individual gain even if they are not nominated or placed on the year’s list.
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 