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Books for Keeps 121 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 121 - March 2000

Cover Story
This issue's cover is from Colin McNaughton's Hmm... Colin McNaughton discusses the thinking behind his book in Windows into Illustration. Thanks to Collins Children's Books for their help in producing this cover.

BfK No. 121 Articles

Editorial - March 2000

News and comment from the Editor.
Giving a Free Rein to Invention

Joanna Carey on new picture books.
Children's Book Illustration: A Separate Story?

Quentin Blake on the history of children's books in illustration.
Windows into Illustration: Colin McNaughton

Colin McNaughton on his picture book, Hmm...
Authorgraph No.121: Alison Uttley

Alison Uttley by Denis Judd.
Speech and the Silencing of Speech

Salman Rushdie interviewed by Farrukh Dhondy about writing for children.
BfK Briefing - March 2000

News * Letters to the Editor * Events * Obituary
I Wish I’d Written… The Last Giants

Michael Morpurgo chooses Francois Place's The Last Giants.
Good Reads: Trafalgar Junior School, Twickenham

Reviews from pupils of Trafalgar Junior School, Twickenham.
Classics in Short No.20: The Squirrel, the Hare and the Little Grey Rabbit

Brian Alderson on Alison Uttley's The Squirrel, the Hare and the Little Grey Rabbit.

Editor's Choice

Jenny Angel
Margaret Wild
(Viking Children's Books)
4

Jenny believes herself to be a guardian angel who can keep her dying younger brother safe if she is vigilant enough. She wills Davy to live, working hard to bring the world to him as he gradually slips farther away. But magical thinking cannot...

read more

New Talent

Running Out of Time
Margaret Peterson Haddix
(Bodley Head Children's Books)
3

A diptheria outbreak threatens the small rural community of Clifton and now Jessie's little sister, Katie, has fallen ill. There is no cure for diptheria in 1840 but is it really 1840? Desperate to save Katie, Jessie's mum finally tells Jessie...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 121

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

Under 5s

  • The Little Red Engine and the Rocket; The Little Red Engine Goes to Town; The Story of the Little Red Engine
    Diana Ross
    3

  • Growing up in South Africa; Toads and Their Young
    Siphe Neate
    Bobbie Neate
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Jenny Angel
    Margaret Wild
    4

  • Peg; Clumsy Clumps and the Baby Moon; Happy Sad; Promise You Won’t be Cross
    Maddie Stewart
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Oxford First Book of Art
    Gillian Wolfe
    5

  • Britannia, 100 Great Stories from British History
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • Marguerite Makes a Book
    Bruce Robertson
    5

  • Read Me 2: A Poem for Every Day of the Year
    5

  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
    J K Rowling
    5

  • Cliffhanger
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Atlas in the Round
    Keith Lye
    Alastair Campbell
    4

  • In a Children's Hospital
    Deborah Fox
    4

  • Reference Book of Water and Weather; Tudor Homes
    Bobbie Neate
    3

  • Why the Whales Came
    Michael Morpurgo
    3

  • Well Done, The Naughtiest Girl!; The Naughtiest Girl Keeps a Secret; The Naughtiest Girl Helps a Friend; The Naughtiest Girl Saves the Day; Here’s The Naughtiest Girl!; The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor; The Naughtiest Girl Again; The Naughtiest Girl in

    Anne Digby
    3

  • The Big Book of Little Poems
    Roger McGough
    Gyles Brandreth
    1

  • Oxford First Book of Science
    Nina Morgan
    1

Ages 10-14

  • Chinese Cinderella
    Adeline Yen Mah
    5

  • Telling Tales
    Susan Price
    5

  • Exploring World Art
    Andrea Belloli
    5

  • Absolutely Best Cross-Sections Book Ever
    Stephen Biesty
    Richard Platt
    5

  • King of Shadows
    Susan Cooper
    5

  • Kit's Wilderness; Heaven Eyes
    David Almond
    4

  • Family Tree Stories about the family
    4

  • Frenchtown Summer
    Robert Cormier
    4

  • The Stones are Hatching
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    4

  • Sheep Don't Go to School: Mad and Magical Children's Poetry
    4

  • The DK Space Encyclopedia
    Heather Couper
    Nigel Henbest
    4

  • Vinegar Street
    Philip Ridley
    4

  • The Perfect Love Story?
    3

  • Blind Beauty
    K M Peyton
    3

  • The Kidnapping of Suzie Q
    Martin Waddell
    3

  • The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science
    Corinne Stockley
    Chris Oxlade
    Jane Wertheim
    3

  • The Candle House
    Pauline Fisk
    3

  • Paulina
    Lesley Howarth
    3

  • Running Out of Time
    Margaret Peterson Haddix
    3

  • The Usborne Encyclopedia of Planet Earth
    Anna Claybourne
    Gillian Doherty
    Rebecca Treays
    2

BfK News

JESSICA LOVE NAMED WINNER OF THE KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE 2019 FOR JULIAN IS A MERMAID

Jessica Love

read more...
LOLLIES 2020 SHORTLIST THE YEAR’S FUNNIEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, has announced the shortlist for the 2020 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies), the awards that celebrate the funniest children’s books.

Lollies logo

read more...
HOOD, RUNDELL AND REYNOLDS UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

Morag Hood, Katherine Rundell and Jason Reynolds have been announced as the winners of the UKLA Book Awards 2019 for I Am Bat, The Explorer and Long Way Down respectively.

read more...
CATHERINE JOHNSON WINS LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) is delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Catherine Johnson for her book, Freedom (Scholastic 2018).

Catherine Johnsonn photo Andy Donohoe

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CRESSIDA COWELL ANNOUNCED AS NEW WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

‘Books are transformative because of their unique ability to develop three key magical powers: intelligence, creativity and, most important of all, empathy. Words are power; let’s take magic seriously.’ Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

read more...
STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

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SLA School Librarian of the Year 2019 Announced

Ros Harding School Librarian of the Year

Ros Harding of The King’s School Chester has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2019. 2019 YA Book Prize winner Sara Barnard presented Ros Harding with her award at a special ceremony at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington, London Kensington on 27 June.

read more...
MUHAMMAD KHAN WINS 20TH BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut novel for children is Muhammad Khan for his YA novel I Am Thunder. Set up in memory of author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase who both died in 1999, the award also recognizes his editor Lucy Pearse of Macmillan Children’s Books.

read more...
The Children's Book Award 2019

Earlier this month, Arree Chung was named overall winner of The Children’s Book Award 2019. His book Mixed, which he wrote and illustrated, also won the Books for Younger Children category before going on to win the overall prize.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced at a ceremony at The British Library, hosted by broadcaster and writer Konnie Huq.

read more...
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