Every year the purchase of unsuitable books for disadvantaged children wastes millions of dollars. The use of these unsuitable books results in extensive reading failure. In order to overcome this waste of money and human resources, book committees need to employ standards and methods of evaluation to identify books appropriate for disadvantaged children. An example of this technique is developed through an illustrative textbook evaluation based on interest appeal of the illustrations, readability of the content, and usefulness of the glossary. These three areas were chosen because they evaluate very different aspects of a book and are especially important in teaching disadvantaged children to read. References are listed. (BS)