Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

Books for Keeps 235 - the children's book magazine online

  • View
  • Rearrange

Digital version – browse, print or download

Books for Keeps is packed with articles, interviews comment and, of course, reviews.

You can read the whole issue online here, for free!

How to print the digital edition of Books for Keeps: click on this PDF file link - click on the printer icon in the top right of the screen to print.

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 235 - March 2019
BfK 235 March 2019

This issue’s cover illustration features The Curious Science Quest series by Julia Golding with Andrew Briggs and Roger Wagner, illustrated by Brett Hudson. Thanks to Lion Children’s Books for their help with this March cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 235 March 2019.

BfK No. 235 Articles

Editorial 235

Guest Editorial by former Waterstones Children’s Laureate Anne Fine
EmpathyLab 2019

An update from EmpathyLab founder Miranda McKearney
The LGBTQI+ Novel Comes Of Age

Michael Lee Richardson celebrates the best new writing for young LGBTQI+ readers.
Authorgraph 235: Julia Golding

Julia Golding interviewed by Imogen Russell Williams
Twenty-Seven of the Best: A Personal Reading Journey

Daniel Hahn takes a personal reading journey round Europe

Windows into Illustration: Laura Hughes

Laura Hughes

Beyond the Secret Garden Protest and the British Children’s Book

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor find rebellion and riot in children’s literature.
I Wish I’d Written: Matt Brown

Matt Brown chooses
Good Reads 235

Chosen by Cannon Park Primary School, Coventry
Two Children Tell: Rebecca and Nicholas recognise an illustrator’s style

Rebecca and Nicholas and Lucy and Tom
Happy Anniversary to The Blue Balloon

Mick Inpen is celebrating!
Classics in Short No. 134 The strange fate of Rip Van Winkle

Brian Alderson contemplates Rip Van Winkle’s unlucky encounter with the fairies.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DANNY WALLACE

Comedian Danny Wallace explains why Brexit helped inspire the ultimate threat in his brand new book.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH NADINE WILD-PALMER

The author Nadine Wild-Palmer answers our questions on her debut children's novel, The Tunnels Below.

Editor's Choice

Wisp: A Story of Hope
Zana Fraillon
(Orchard Books)
5

Idris’s home is surrounded by barbed wire, a place where people have retreated into themselves. When the Wisp arrives, blown in on the wind, it is only Idris who sees it and feels its need - a need to unlock the memories of the people who have...

read more

New Talent

Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
Humza Arshad
Henry White
(Puffin)
5

Humza Khan is a 12-year-old ninja-rapper-gangster with huge plans for his future. Unfortunately, he also suffers from debilitating stage fright and has the ‘greatest cricket coach Pakistan has ever known’ for a father, which means that his...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 235

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

Under 5s

  • The Truth About Old People
    Elina Ellis
    4
  • Aalfred and Aalbert

    Aalfred and Aalbert
    Morag Hood
    4
  • The Green Giant

    The Green Giant
    Katie Cottle
    4
  • All the Ways to Be Smart

    All the Ways to be Smart
    Davina Bell
    4
  • Bear Moves

    Bear Moves
    Ben Bailey Smith
    4
  • Rosie is my Best Friend

    Rosie is my Best Friend
    Ali Pye
    4

  • Me and My Sister
    Rose Robbins
    4

  • Maisie’s Scrapbook
    Samuel Narh
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Wisp: A Story of Hope
    Zana Fraillon
    5

  • Two Sides
    Polly Ho-Yen
    5

  • Goldilocks (A Hashtag Cautionary Tale)
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • Harold Snipperpot’s Best Disaster Ever
    Beatrice Alemagna
    4

  • Mummy’s Suitcase
    Pip Jones
    4

  • Me and My Sister
    Rose Robbins
    4

  • Maisie’s Scrapbook
    Samuel Narh
    4

  • Wishing for a Dragon
    Becky Cameron
    4
  • The Dinosaur Department Store

    The Dinosaur Department Store
    Lily Murray
    Richard Merrit
    3

  • Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise
    Swapna Haddow
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Midnight Hour
    Benjamin Read
    Laura Trinder
    5

  • The Steam Whistle Theatre Company
    Vivian French
    5

  • Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
    Humza Arshad
    Henry White
    5

  • The Day I Was Erased
    Lisa Thompson
    4

  • When We Were Warriors
    Emma Carroll
    4

  • The Boy Who Flew
    Fleur Hitchcock
    4

Ages 10-14

  • The Midnight Hour
    Benjamin Read
    Laura Trinder
    5

  • Now or Never-a Dunkirk Story
    Bali Rai
    5

  • Ghost
    Jason Reynolds
    4

  • Girl 38 Finding a Friend
    Ewa Jozefkowicz
    4

  • She Wolf
    Dan Smith
    3

  • Halo Moon
    Sharon Cohen
    3

Ages 14+

  • Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom
    P.M. Freestone
    5

  • Proud
    Various Authors
    5

  • Joe Quinn’s Poltergeist
    David Almond
    5
  • Tales from the Inner City

    Tales from the Inner City
    Shaun Tan
    5

  • Outside
    Sarah Ann Juckes
    4

  • All the Invisible Things
    Orlagh Collins
    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...
more
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account