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Books for Keeps 233 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 233 - November 2018
BfK 233 November 2018

This issue’s cover illustration is from The Afterwards by A.F. Harrold illustrated by Emily Gravett. Thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for their help with this November cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 233 November 2018 .

BfK No. 233 Articles

Editorial 233

Editorial comment
Fairy Tales: holding the old stories tight by Deirdre Sullivan

Fairy Tale special

Books of the Year 2018

The best of 2018 selected by a BfK panel
Books for Giving 2018

What to put under the tree
Books for Giving Christmas 2018 book list

A list of the books we are recommending for Christmas giving 2018
Authorgraph 233: A.F. Harrold

A.F. Harrold interviewed by Charlotte Hacking
Ten of the best: films of children’s books

A celluloid special by Laura Fraine
Windows into Illustration: Fabi Santiago

Fabi Santiago

‘We English’: Nonfiction and Belonging in Children’s Literature

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor
I Wish I’d Written: Candy Gourlay

Candy Gourlay chooses
Good Reads 233

Chosen by Saint Wilfrid’s C of E Academy in Blackburn
Two Children Tell: Growing up with John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury

By Virginia Lowe
Voices from the Past: Tom Palmer on writing the Great War

The author of Armistice Runner on creating his new book
Never Such Innocence: young people’s responses to the Great War

Review of two books published by the official First World War Centenary charity
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR HILARY MCKAY

Philip Womack interviews Hilary McKay about The Skylarks' War
Classics in Short No 132: How about spending Christmas with the Savages?

A festive special
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR DAVID ALMOND

David Almond discusses his new book, the Costa shortlisted The Colour of the Sun
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR CANDY GOURLAY

The author discusses her Costa shortlisted book Bone Talk
AN INTERVIEW WITH GARTH NIX AND SEAN WILLIAMS

The authors discuss their new fantasy series with Philip Womack
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR MATT KILLEEN

The author of Orphan Monster Spy interviewed by Michelle Pauli.
MY MUM TRACY BEAKER - THE LAUNCH

Rebecca Butler reports on the launch celebration for My Mum Tracy Beaker
AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER BROWN

Peter Brown's complete robot

Editor's Choice

The Afterwards
A.F. Harrold
(Bloomsbury Children's Books)
5

December (or as she is usually called, Ember) and Ness are the very best friends. Then Ness dies. Ember’s life has an empty hole. Ness was so alive and she should be alive. Ember decides she must rescue Ness. There will be consequences ... but...

read more

New Talent

Maybe the Moon
Frances Ives
(LOM Art)
4

Frances Ives won the 2016 LOM Art prize, and this is her debut picture book. Based on her own experience of moving to the city from the countryside, she shows the happy life of Eric in the country as he helps his mother in their...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 233

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+
  • Books About Children's Books

Under 5s

  • I Was Made For You
    David Lucas
    5

  • Little Robin Red Vest
    Jan Fearnley
    5

  • Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny
    Fred Blunt
    5

  • The Pooka Party
    Shona Shirley Macdonald
    4

  • Maybe the Moon
    Frances Ives
    4

  • My Bed is an Air Balloon
    Julia Copus
    4

  • You're Snug with Me
    Chitra Soundar
    4

  • The Lost Property Office
    Emily Rand
    4

  • Mini Rabbit: Not Lost
    John Bond
    4

  • Counting Blessings
    Emma Dodd
    3

  • Mummy Time
    Judith Kerr
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Hubert Horatio: How to Raise Your Parents
    Lauren Child
    5

  • Me and my Fear
    Francesca Sanna
    5

  • Once Upon a Snowstorm
    Richard Johnson
    5

  • Happy: A Children’s Book of Mindfulness
    Nicola Edwards
    5

  • Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny
    Fred Blunt
    5

  • Inside the Villains
    Clotilde Perrin
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • The Pooka Party
    Shona Shirley Macdonald
    4

  • Armadillo and Hare
    Jeremy Strong
    4

  • Two Kings
    Emma Lewis
    4

  • The Dog That Saved Christmas
    Nicola Davies
    4

  • Sonam and the Silence
    Eddie Ayres
    4

  • The Truth Pixie
    Matt Haig
    3

  • Once Upon a Magic Book
    Lily Murray
    3

  • Ten Nasty Little Toads
    Steve Cole
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Clockwork Crow
    Catherine Fisher
    5

  • The Afterwards
    A.F. Harrold
    5

  • Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers
    Alastair Humphreys
    5

  • Corey’s Rock
    Sita Brahmachari
    5

  • My Mum Tracy Beaker
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World
    Sarah Webb
    4

  • Wiggott’s Wonderful Waxworld: Terror Train
    Terry Deary
    4

  • Into the Jungle Stories for Mowgli
    Katherine Rundell
    4

  • Mr Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon
    Sally Gardner
    4

  • A Dangerous Game
    Malorie Blackman
    4

  • Picklewitch and Jack
    Claire Barker
    4

  • Sonam and the Silence
    Eddie Ayres
    4

  • The Missing Barbegazi
    H.S. Norup
    3

  • The Pony with No Name
    Tracey Corderoy
    3

  • The Girl, the Cat and the Navigator
    Matilda Woods
    3

Ages 10-14

  • The Skylarks’ War
    Hilary McKay
    5

  • Louisiana’s Way Home
    Kate DiCamillo
    5

  • My Mum Tracy Beaker
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • Wiggott’s Wonderful Waxworld: Terror Train
    Terry Deary
    4

  • She is Fierce
    Ana Sampson
    4

  • The Blue Cat
    Ursula Dubosarsky
    4

  • Race to the Frozen North: the Matthew Henson story
    Catherine Johnson
    3

  • Firebird
    Elizabeth Wein
    3

  • The Lost Magician
    Piers Torday
    2

Ages 14+

  • The Key to Flambards
    Linda Newbery
    5

  • The Chaos of Now
    Erin Lange
    5

  • Glass Town Wars
    Celia Rees
    5

  • Only the Ocean
    Natasha Carthew
    4

  • She is Fierce
    Ana Sampson
    4

  • The Punk Factor
    Rebecca Denton
    3

  • The Price Guide to the Occult
    Leslye Walton
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Reading & Rebellion. An Anthology of Radical Writing for Children 1900-1960
    Kimberley Reynolds
    Michael Rosen
    Jane Rosen
    4

BfK News

STRUAN MURRAY AND HIS EDITOR BEN HORSLEN WIN THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Branford Boase Award logo

Struan Murray and his editor Ben Horslen have been named winners of the 2021 Branford Boase Award for the year’s outstanding debut novel for children for Orphans of the Tide.

read more...
2021 WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE WINNER

Elle McNicoll has been named Overall Winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2021 for her debut novel A Kind Of Spark. Now in its seventeenth year, the Prize consists of £5,000 and the promise of ongoing commitment to the winners’ writing and illustrating careers, making it one of the most valuable and prestigious children’s book awards in the UK.

read more...
SCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2022 SHORTLIST OF FUNNIEST BOOKS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, today announced the shortlist for the 2022 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies). The Lollies, created by Scholastic UK, celebrate the funniest children’s books and this will be the fifth year of the awards after a hiatus in 2021.

read more...
THE 2021 UKLA WINNERS

The 2021 UKLA Awards, the only national awards judged by class teachers, will always be remembered as the year when the entire judging process had to be conducted online, with the judging panel only meeting and discussing the titles virtually. Yet despite this the impassioned discussions demonstrated yet again the impact that quality texts can have upon the teacher judges and the students in their classes.

read more...
CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY AWARD WINNERS 2021

The winners of this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, were revealed today. Both winning books were announced at a virtual, daytime event, hosted by University Challenge Star and author Bobby Seagull and livestreamed from The British Library.

read more...
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR 2020/21 ANNOUNCED

SLA logo

read more...
PATRICE LAWRENCE NAMED WINNER OF 2021 JHALAK PRIZE AWARD

Patrice Lawrence is the winner of the inaugural Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize for her YA novel, Eight Pieces of Silva.

Jhalak Prize logo

read more...
THE 2021 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2021 Little Rebels Award has been revealed and it is the longest in the award’s history.

Now in its 9th year, the Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s fiction which challenges stereotypes, promotes social justice and advocates for a more peaceful and fairer world.

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Klaus Flugge Prize logo

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Branford Boase Award logo

read more...
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