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Books for Keeps 111 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 111 - July 1998

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Poetry (cover illustration by Peter Weevers). Edited by Alison Sage (who also edited The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Literature), this sumptuous anthology is loosely divided into four sections corresponding to age starting with nursery rhymes and first poems through to poems for older children and classic poetry. Poems from such modern poets as Roger McGough, Ted Hughes, Wendy Cope and Maya Angelou sit alongside poems by Longfellow, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shelley and Shakespeare. The anthology is illustrated in full colour and black and white. Newly commissioned illustrations from, for example, Quentin Blake, Shirley Hughes and Nicola Bayley are included alongside illustrations by Randolph Caldecott, Jessie Willcox Smith and Kate Greenaway. With such a comprehensive range of poems for 2-11 year olds and upwards, this is a wonderful family book.

BfK No. 111 Articles

Editorial – July 1998

News and comment from the Editor.
Keep on Walking!

Julia Eccleshare on 30 years of Rosie's Walk.
Poetry Power

Helen Taylor assesses recent poetry publishing for children.
Breaking Down the Barriers

Kevin Berry on first languages and poetry.
King of the Sky

Gwynneth Bailey on using poetry for The Literacy Hour.
Finding Their Own Voices

John Lynch on children writing poetry.
Authorgraph No.111: Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah interviewed by Errol Lloyd.
BfK Briefing – July 1998

News * Awards * Best Seller Chart * Letters to the Editor

Useful Organisations No.1: The Poetry Society

Nurturing and promoting poets and poetry.
What Should Win the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals?

BfK asks children's literature experts and young readers to nominate their winners.
Good Reads: Havelock Primary School

Reviews from pupils of Havelock Primary School, Southall, Middlesex.
I Wish I’d Written… Harry and the Wrinklies

Anne Fine chooses Alan Temperley's Harry and the Wrinklies.
Classics in Short No.10: A Child’s Garden of Verses

Helen Levene on Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

Editor's Choice

Witnesses to War
Michael Leapman
(Puffin)
5

Anne Frank is one of eight young people featured in this collection of war-time biographies whose lives were irrevocably disrupted by Nazism. Anne Frank was to die in Bergen-Belsen, and because we feel we know her so well via her diary, come to...

read more

New Talent

Skellig
David Almond
(Hodder Children's Books)
5

A move to a new house coincides for Michael with the anguish of bearing his new baby sister's medical problems. Will she live? As the baby fights for her life in a hospital incubator, Michael learns, with the help of his new friend Mina, to look...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 111

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

Under 5s

  • Big Silver Spaceship
    Ken Wilson-Max
    5

  • The Long Nosed Pig
    Keith Faulkner
    5

  • Our Puppy's Holiday
    Ruth Brown
    4

  • Baby Duck and the New Eyeglasses
    Amy Hest
    4

  • Pippo Gets Lost; Tom and Pippo's Day; Tom and Pippo Go for a Walk; Tom and Pippo Read a Story
    Helen Oxenbury
    4

  • A Child's Treasury of Irish Rhymes
    Alice Taylor
    3

  • Daisy is a Mummy
    Lisa Kopper
    3

  • Stellaluna
    Janell Cannon
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Whistling Jack
    Linda Newbery
    5

  • Clown
    Quentin Blake
    5

  • Boys Are Us; Dear Alien
    Shoo Rayner
    4

  • Harry on Holiday; A Hiccup on the High Seas; Rattle and Hum in Double Trouble; Bing Bang Boogie, It's a Boy Scout
    Chris Powling
    Scoular Anderson
    4

  • Forest Tales from Far and Wide; Farmyard Tales from Far and Wide
    4

  • Sound City
    Sarah Hayes
    4

  • How to Live Forever
    Colin Thompson
    4

  • Scratch 'n' Sniff
    Gus Clarke
    4

  • Thud!
    Nick Butterworth
    4

  • Children Don't Divorce; No More Bullying!
    Rosemary Stones
    4

  • Gita and Goldie; Timmy and Tiger
    Mary Hooper
    3

  • "Og Fo" says the Space Bug; Pets Just Want to Have Fun!; "I don't Like Space Glop"; "Do I Look Funny to You?"
    Nicola Matthews
    3

  • Off to School
    3

  • Winnie the Witch; The Fish Who Could Wish
    Valerie Thomas
    3

  • Dad's Dodgy Lodger; Talking Pictures
    Philip Wooderson
    Dee Shulman
    2

Ages 8-10

  • My Grandfather is a Magician
    Ifeoma Onyefulu
    5

  • Robln of Sherwood
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • Willa and Old Miss Annie
    Berlie Doherty
    5

  • A Tudor Warship; A Victorian Mill
    Brian Moses
    4

  • Carmine's Story
    Arlene Schulman
    4

  • Tom's Private War
    Robert Leeson
    4

  • How Castles Were Built
    Peter Hicks
    3

  • Ruby Red: Tales from the Weedwater
    Henrietta Branford
    3

Ages 10-14

  • My Left Foot
    Christy Brown
    5

  • MapHead 2
    Lesley Howarth
    5

  • Skellig
    David Almond
    5

  • Witnesses to War
    Michael Leapman
    5

  • Dealing with Eating Disorders; Sex; Periods
    Kate Haycock
    4

  • Religion; Women's Rights
    Anita Ganeri
    4

  • Child of the May
    Theresa Tomlinson
    4

  • Clues from Names
    Gillian Clegg
    4

  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
    J K Rowling
    4

  • Love Lessons
    David Belbin
    3

  • Family Secrets
    Brian Keaney
    3

  • Crisis in Central Africa; The Berlin Wall
    Charles Freeman
    3

  • The Element Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mind, Body, Spirit and Earth; The Unexplained Psychic Powers
    Joanna Crosse
    2

  • The Empty Frame
    Ann Pilling
    2

  • Abomination
    Robert Swindells
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • A Year with Poetry
    5

  • From the Garden to the Street: Three Hundred Years of Poetry for Children
    Morag Styles
    5

BfK News

DANIEL MORDEN WINS 2013 TIR NA N-OG ENGLISH AWARD

The Welsh Books Council has announced Daniel Morden as winner of the 2013 Tir na n-Og English Award for his collection of stories Tree of Leaf and Flame (Pont Books).

Morden’s first book, Weird Tales from the  Storyteller, was shortlisted for the Tir
na n-Og English-language award in 2004 and he won the award in 2007 for Dark Tales from the Woods.

read more...
ROYAL SOCIETY YOUNG PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2013 SHORTLIST

The Royal Society has announced the shortlist for their 2013 Young People’s Book Prize, naming the six books the judges consider best communicate science to young people.

Professor John Goodby FRS, Chair of the judges described the shortlist as eclectic, but enthralling.

The six books shortlisted by the judges are:

Build the Human Body by Richard Walker (Templar Publishing)

In the judges’ words: ‘A hands on, fun kit to help learn about the human body, accompanied by a well-illustrated, concise, clear book.’

read more...
SARAH GARLAND WINS INAUGURAL LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Sarah Garland has won the first Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Azzi in Between, which tells the story of a family forced to fell their homeland and settle in a strange and unfamiliar country. The book is based on the author’s own experience of working among refugee families and is endorsed by Amnesty International.

read more...
2013 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD: THE SHORTLIST

‘Seven outstanding debuts, eight really interesting authors, doing really interesting things’

The shortlist for the 2013 Branford Boase Award has been announced. The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

read more...
2013 CLPE Poetry Award: Winner

CLPE AwardThe 2013 CLPE Poetry Award has been won by George Szirtes for  In the Land of the Giants, illustrated by Helen Szirtes (Salt Publishing). Szirtes was presented with the award by last year’s winner Rachel Rooney at a ceremony at CLPE on the evening of Tuesday 30 April.

read more...
THE 2013 CLPE POETRY AWARD SHORTLIST

Weight of WaterFour outstanding poetry books are shortlisted for the 2013 CLPE Poetry Award. Established in 2003, the annual Poetry Award encourages and celebrates outstanding new children’s poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

The four books on the shortlist are:

read more...
2013 ENGLISH 4 – 11 PICTURE BOOK AWARDS: THE WINNERS

The winners of the 2013 English 4 – 11 Picture Book Awards have been announced. Established in 1995, the awards are presented annually to the best picture books of the previous year, in four categories, Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years, and Non-Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years.

From a 15 strong shortlist, the winners are:

Fiction 4 – 7 years

Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis illustrated by Tony Ross (Andersen Press)

Fiction 7 – 11 years

read more...
IBBY Announces the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award have been announced.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books. Awarded every other year by IBBY, the award recognizes lifelong achievement and is given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.

For the 2014 Awards 29 authors and 31 illustrators have been nominated from 34 countries. They are:

read more...
New Little Rebels Children’s Book Award: Shortlist Announced

The shortlist has been announced for The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award, a new award for radical children’s fiction.

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award recognises fiction for ages 0-12 which promotes or celebrates social justice and equality. It is awarded by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and administered by Letterbox Library. Wendy Cooling, Bookstart co-founder & editor and author Elizabeth Laird are both judges.

The four books on the inaugural shortlist are:

read more...
School Library Association Information Book Award 2013 Short List Announcement

The School Library Association has announce the shortlist for the 2013 prize. The Information Book Award is an annual event, in its third year its aim is to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available.

The judges - a panel of experienced librarians, SLA board members and a member of Peters Bookselling Services - have produced what they describe as ‘a strong and very varied selection of titles for the shortlist’. These are

Under 7s

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