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Books for Keeps 118 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 118 - September 1999

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from a stunning new picture book, Mary’s Secret by David McKee (Andersen Press, 0 86264 909 9, £9.99). An ecological fable about doing without cars, McKee’s story with its bright pictures full of well observed detail is set within Mary’s cheerful family and at her school. His bold, painterly illustrations use the page so confidently and dextrously that their quirky, decorative perspectives seem entirely natural. Thanks to Andersen Press for their help in producing this September cover.

BfK No. 118 Articles

Editorial - September 1999

News and comment from the Editor.

Drugs and Teen Publishing

Colin Chapman assesses books with drugs as a theme.

Windows into Illustration: Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne explains the techniques and thinking behind his recent picture book,Voices in the Park.

From Read Me to Read On

Liz Attenborough reflects on the National Year of Reading.

Authorgraph No.118: Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess interviewed by George Hunt.

BfK Briefing – September 1999

News * Events * Obituary * Awards * Best Seller Chart * Publications * Letters to the Editor

Useful Organisations No.8: Readathon

National sponsored read raising money for very ill children.

I Wish I'd Written... The Sterkarm Handshake

Gillian Cross chooses Susan Price's The Sterkarm Handshake.

Good Reads: Wells Cathedral School

Reviews from pupils of Wells Cathedral School, Somerset.

Classics in Short No.17: Just So Stories

Brian Alderson on Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.

Editor's Choice

Rover

Michael Rosen
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

Told in the first person, this witty picture book is a canine account of life with a pet human. ‘Rover’ as her owner calls her ‘has very weak claws. Her coat only covers her head.’ When they go to the park ‘she keeps losing the ball but I always...

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New Talent

Clarice Bean That’s Me

Lauren Child
(Orchard Books)
5

Getting enough attention and at the same time enough space for yourself are common preoccupations for children in big families. The third child out of four, 7-ish Clarice Bean shares a bedroom with her younger brother (‘I have drawn a line down...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 118

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

Under 5s

  • Chicken, Chips and Peas; The Hen House; Slow Dog Falling

    Allan Ahlberg
    5
  • Jungle Kids

    John Wallace
    5
  • Daddy, Will You Miss Me?

    Wendy McCormick
    5
  • Rover

    Michael Rosen
    5
  • The Little Cat and the Greedy Old Woman; You're Somebody Special, Walliwags!

    Joan Rankin
    4
  • The Enormous Turnip; The Elves and the Shoemaker; The Gingerbread Man; The Little Red Hen; The Sly Fox and the Little Red Hen; TheThree Billy Goats Gruff

    4
  • Splash!

    Flora McDonnell
    4
  • Jody's Beans

    Malachy Doyle
    4
  • Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door

    Laura McGee Kvanosky
    3
  • Very Hungry Caterpillar , The

    3
  • Please, Princess Primrose!

    Vivien French
    3
  • Perfect Pet, The

    Peta Coplans
    3
  • Maisy's Mix-and Match Mousewear

    Lucy Cousins
    3
  • Frankie and Albertine

    Christine Davenier
    3
  • Cinderella

    Charles Perrault
    3
  • Elmer’s Day; Elmer’s Friends; Elmer’s Weather; Elmer’s Colours

    David McKee
    3
  • Daisy Says Coo!

    Jane Simmons
    2
  • Where Are You Hiding, Little Lamb?

    Hiawyn Oram
    1

Ages 5-8

  • Jaguar Talk; Tiger Talk; Zebra Talk

    Vanesha Vargo
    5
  • Changeling, The

    Malachy Doyle
    5
  • Clarice Bean That’s Me

    Lauren Child
    5
  • Weslandia

    Paul Fleischman
    4
  • Great Art Attack Stuff

    Neil Buchanan
    4
  • What Do We Think About Adoption?

    Jillian Powell
    3
  • Thief in the Garden, A

    Elizabeth Arnold
    3
  • Out for the Count

    Kathryn Cave
    3
  • Magical Mazes

    Juliet Snape
    Charles Snape
    3
  • I Know How My Cells Make Me Grow; I Know Why I Brush My Teeth

    Kate Rowan
    3
  • Tell Me How Much It Weighs; Tell Me How Far It Is

    Shirley Willis
    3
  • Poems about School; Poems about Space

    2

Ages 8-10

  • I Was a Rat! ... or The Scarlet Slippers

    Philip Pullman
    5
  • The Hairy Hands

    Gene Kemp
    5
  • The Lady of Shalott; Beowulf; The Highwayman

    Alfred Lord Tennyson
    5
  • Tales of the Catwings

    Ursula Le Guin
    5
  • The Crusades; The Industrial Revolution

    Christine Hatt
    4
  • Bartlett and the Ice Voyage

    Odo Hirsch
    4
  • Picture a Poem

    Gina Douthwaite
    4
  • Oliver Twist

    Charles Dickens
    4
  • Excuses, Excuses: Poems about School

    3
  • Sink the Armada!; The Finest Pharaoh of All!

    Stewart Ross
    2
  • The Weatherbirds

    Ted Dewan
    2

Ages 10-14

  • New Astronomer

    Carole Stott
    5
  • Bulging Brains

    Nick Arnold
    5
  • The Illustrated Mum

    Jacqueline Wilson
    5
  • Dancing in the Street: A Poetry Party

    5
  • Always Inventing - a photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell

    Tom L Matthews
    5
  • A Right to Life - and Death?

    Kenneth Boyd
    5
  • I Have Lived a Thousand Years

    Livia Britton-Jackson
    4
  • Bloomability

    Sharon Creech
    4
  • The Crowlings

    Louise Lawrence
    4
  • Ticket to Prague

    James Watson
    4
  • Wild Blood

    Kate Thompson
    4
  • Flightsend

    Linda Newbery
    4
  • Bloom of Youth

    Rachel Anderson
    4
  • Bitter Fruit

    Brian Keaney
    4
  • The Lion Tamer's Daughter

    Peter Dickinson
    4
  • Gangs & Bullies

    Rosemary Stones
    4
  • Stiks & Stoans

    Andrew Matthews
    4
  • The Crow Haunting

    Julia Jarman
    3
  • Smiling for Strangers

    Annie Campling
    3
  • Warpath 1: Tank Attack; Warpath 2: Deadly Skies

    J Eldridge
    3
  • Secret Place

    Joan Lingard
    3
  • Huntress of the Sea

    Alan Temperley
    2
  • Star Quest

    Andy Dixon
    2
  • Kerosene

    Chris Wooding
    2
  • In Space; Moon Landing the race for the Moon

    Michael Johnstone
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Pictus Orbis Sambo, The: A Publishing History, Checklist and Price Guide for the Story of Little Black Sambo

    Phyllis Settecase Barton
    4

BfK News

THE FRANCES LINCOLN DIVERSE VOICES CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2013

Tariq Mehmood has won the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award 2013 for You’re Not Proper. The announcement was made on 23rd May 2013 by John Nicoll, founder of the award, at Seven Stories - National Centre for Children’s Books.

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.’

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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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:

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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:

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