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Books for Keeps 189 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 189 - July 2011

This issue's cover illustration is from Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David. Thanks to Frances Lincoln for their help with this July cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 189 July 2011.

BfK No. 189 Articles

Editorial - July 2011

News and comment from the editor.
BfK's Brilliant Children's Bookshops

BfK’s Brilliant Bookshops
Marilyn Brocklehurst on the Norfolk Children’s Book Centre.
Children’s and Young Adult Fiction and the ‘war on terror’

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction and the ‘war on terror’. Alan Gibbons on how children’s writers have responded.
The Impact of Reading on Career Propects

The Impact of Reading on Career Prospects
Mark Taylor explains his research findings.
The New Children's Laureate: Julia Donaldson

Nicholas Tucker interviews Julia Donaldson , the 7th Children’s Laureate.
Children's Novels with Disabled Characters

Ten of the Best: Children’s Books about Disability

Rebecca Butler chooses her top ten.
Windows into Illustration: Nicola Killen

Windows into Illustration
Nicola Killen on how she went about illustrating Not Me!
Authorgraph No 189: Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is assessed by Judy Taylor.
Briefing

Awards * News * Obituary
I Wish I'd Written... A Monster Calls.

Siobhán Parkinson chooses Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls.
Hal's Reading Diary

Roger Mills on soporific bedtime reading.
Good Reads

Reviews from the Carnegie Shadowing Group, Fortismere School, London.
Classic A Little Princess

Brian Alderson on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess.
Loadsamoney! An interview with Keren David

The award-winning author of When I was Joe talks to Caroline Sanderson about her new book Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery.
Paula Rawsthorne answers questions about The Truth about Celia Frost

Paula Rawsthorne answers questions about her fast-paced teen thriller The Truth about Celia Frost.
SOPHIE MCKENZIE: MISSING IN ACTION

Damian Kelleher talks to Sophie McKenzie about Sister, Missing.
2011 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner Grahame Baker-Smith

Caroline Sanderson interviewed Grahame Baker-Smith for Books for Keeps and explains how a long journey in search of his illustrator’s ‘voice’ led him to CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal triumph.
Welcome to the World of Jonathan Meres

The author of The World of Norm on jokes, biscuits and P G Wodehouse.

Editor's Choice

This Little Teddy
Lucy Lyes
(Ladybird)
4

This satisfyingly robust ‘touch-and-feel’ board book has five double page spreads each featuring a different teddy bear. On the verso, a friendly rhyme introduces the bear’s name and invites the very young reader to stroke the furry tummy/touch...

read more

New Talent

The Grasshopper's Run
Siddhartha Sarma
(Bloomsbury Children's Books)
4

After many decades when Ruskin Bond was the only well known writer in the field, Indian children’s fiction written in English is beginning to attract attention. Penguin India and Scholastic India alongside smaller publishers are publishing more...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 189

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+

Under 5s

  • Little Rex and the Big Roar
    Ruth Symes
    5

  • Oliver
    Christopher Franceschelli
    5

  • Not Me!
    Nicola Killen
    5

  • Bedtime for Monsters
    Ed Vere
    5

  • Superfrog!
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • 100 Things
    Masayuki Sebe
    4

  • This Little Teddy
    Lucy Lyes
    4

  • The Happy Book
    Malachy Doyle
    4

  • Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes
    Anna Kemp
    4

  • When the World Was Waiting for You
    Gillian Shields
    3

  • Solomon Crocodile
    Catherine Rayner
    3

  • Don't Panic, Annika!
    Juliet Clare Bell
    3

  • Pip and Posy: The Little Puddle ¦ Pip and Posy: The Super Scooter
    Axel Scheffler
    3

  • Mine!
    Rachel Bright
    3

  • Hullabaloo!
    Gordon Volke
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Nature Adventures
    Mick Manning
    5

  • Zoo Girl
    Rebecca Elliott
    5

  • Bubble Trouble
    Margaret Mahy
    5

  • My Ballet Dream
    Adèle Geras
    4

  • Pirate House Swap
    Abie Longstaff
    4

  • The Day Louis Got Eaten

    John Fardell
    4

  • Painting out the Stars
    Mal Peet
    4

  • Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School
    David Mackintosh
    3

  • Hooey Higgins and the Big Boat Race
    Steve Voake
    3

  • The Little White Sprite
    Gillian McClure
    3

  • Aesop's Fables
    Beverley Naidoo
    3

  • Naughty Toes
    Ann Bonwill
    3

  • Naughty Nina
    Juliet Mickelburgh
    3

  • Beowulf the Hero
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Polly and the Wolf Again
    Catherine Storr
    3

  • The Wrong Pong
    Steven Butler
    3

  • Mega Mash-Up: Robots v Gorillas in the Desert ¦ Mega Mash-Up: Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars
    Nikalas Catlow
    Tim Wesson
    3

  • This Book Totally Makes Stuff Grow
    Maggie Bolger
    1

Ages 8-10

  • The Language of Cat and Other Poems
    Rachel Rooney
    5

  • The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
    Chris Van Allsburg
    5

  • One Dog and his Boy
    Eva Ibbotson
    5

  • Sky Hawk
    Gill Lewis
    5

  • The Dragon Whisperer
    Lucinda Hare
    5

  • Tales from Witchway Wood: Crash ’n’ Bang
    Kaye Umansky
    4

  • Monacello, the Little Monk
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    4

  • Kidnap in the Caribbean
    Lauren St John
    4

  • Sterling and the Canary
    Andy Stanton
    4

  • Saving SS Shannon
    Phil Carradice
    4

  • Pillywiggins and the Tree Witch

    Julia Jarman
    4

  • The World of Norm: May Contain Nuts

    Jonathan Meres
    4

  • Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster
    Joanna Nadin
    4

  • The Lion Classic Aesop’s Fables
    Margaret McAllister
    4

  • The Snow Merchant
    Sam Gayton
    4

  • Meerkat Madness
    Ian Whybrow
    3

  • A Roman Rescue
    K A Gerrard
    3

  • Wasim and the Champ
    Chris Ashley
    3

  • Grubtown Tales: When Bunnies Turn Bad
    Philip Ardagh
    3

  • Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission
    Janis Mackay
    3

  • The Crowfield Demon
    Pat Walsh
    3

  • Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon

    Ivan Brett
    3

  • Small Change for Stuart
    Lissa Evans
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Lula does the Hula
    Samantha Mackintosh
    5

  • Thief
    Malorie Blackman
    5

  • Everybody Jam
    Ali Lewis
    5

  • I Am the Blade
    J P Buxton
    5

  • Serpent's Gold
    Sam Osman
    5

  • Sister Missing
    Sophie McKenzie
    5

  • Forgotten
    Cat Patrick
    4

  • The Thirteen Secrets
    Michelle Harrison
    4

  • Where She Went
    Gayle Forman
    4

  • Duty Calls: Dunkirk
    James Holland
    4

  • Six Days
    Philip Webb
    4

  • The Iraq War
    Simon Adams
    4

  • No Passengers Beyond This Point
    Gennifer Choldenko
    4

  • The Truth about Celia Frost
    Paula Rawsthorne
    4

  • Too Much Trouble
    Tom Avery
    4

  • The Queen Must Die
    K A S Quinn
    4

  • Bad Day
    Graham Marks
    4

  • Milicent’s Book
    Charlotte Moore
    4

  • Velvet
    Mary Hooper
    4

  • A Greyhound of a Girl
    Roddy Doyle
    4

  • Wish Me Dead
    Helen Grant
    3

  • Gravenhunger
    Harriet Goodwin
    3

  • Sita, Daughter of the Earth
    Saraswati Nagpal
    3

  • The Western Mysteries: The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes
    Caroline Lawrence
    3

  • Ashes
    Kathryn Lasky
    3

  • The Rabbit Girl
    Mary Arrigan
    3

  • Wintercraft
    Jenna Burtenshaw
    3

  • Diary of a Lottery Winner’s Daughter
    Penelope Bush
    3

  • Operation Black Cobra
    Ilkka Remes
    3

  • Sapphire Battersea
    Jacqueline Wilson
    3

Ages 14+

  • Flip
    Martyn Bedford
    5

  • The Kissing Game
    Aidan Chambers
    5

  • A Small Free Kiss in the Dark
    Glenda Millard
    4

  • Aurora
    Julie Bertagna
    4

  • Linger
    Maggie Stiefvater
    4

  • The Grasshopper's Run
    Siddhartha Sarma
    4

  • Thin Ice
    Mikael Engström
    4

  • Killing Honour
    Bali Rai
    4

  • The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean

    David Almond
    4

  • Department 19
    Will Hill
    3

  • The Fall
    Anthony McGowan
    3

  • The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
    Yasutaka Tsutsui
    3

  • Skulduggery Pleasant
    Derek Landy
    3

  • Ultraviolet
    RJ Anderson
    3

BfK News

LONGLIST FOR THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The longlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award has been announced. Set up in memory of award-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase, one of the founders of Walker Books, the Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children.

read more...
NATASHA FARRANT WINS 2020 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Natasha Farrant

Writer and literary scout Natasha Farrant has won the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award for Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, a book which the judges described as ‘pure heavenly escapism and a purely joyful read.’

read more...
ROBIN WALKER WINS THE 2020 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD FOR BLACK HISTORY MATTERS

The winner of the 2020 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award is Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, From African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter. Written by acclaimed Black historian, Robin Walker, the 2020 judges praised this accessible, comprehensive and inspiring book which provides a timely introduction both to Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement.

read more...
IBBY UK nominate Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2022

IBBY UK has announced that Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee will be the UK nominations for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Debut authors Darren Charlton and Jenny Pearson join Natasha Farrant and Meg Rosoff on the shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award.

The shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award has been announced. No less than 146 books were submitted and from those the judges have chosen a shortlist of four. They are:

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)

read more...
BOOKTRUST’S REPRESENTS INTERIM RESEARCH & CLPE REFLECTING REALITIES SURVEY 2020

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2021 BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS REVEALED

The six books shortlisted for the 2021 Blue Peter Book Awards have been announced.

Blue Peter Book Award logo

read more...
Happy National Non-Fiction November 2020

It’s National Non-Fiction November! Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, National Non-Fiction November is an annual celebration of the power of non-fiction to inspire children and celebrate readers who have a passion for information and facts. 2020 is the 10th anniversary of National Non-Fiction November.

read more...
JANE PORTER AND MAISIE PARADISE SHEARRING 2020 LITTLE REBELS AWARD WINNERS

Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearring have won the 2020 Little Rebels Award for their picture book The Boy who Loved Everyone. They will share the £2000 prize.

Little Rebels logo 2020

read more...
OU AND MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCH BOOK CHAT SCHEME

The Open University (OU) is launching Book Chat: Reading with your Child, a resource which comprises three short films and support materials to help parents, families and carers read books conversationally and creatively to children. Working with Macmillan Children’s Books, the films use a selection of their picture books and a poetry collection to support families with reading to different ages of children.

read more...
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