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Books for Keeps 127 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 127 - March 2001

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is Sharon Creech’s The Wanderer. Sharon Creech is interviewed by Suzanne Manczuk. Our thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for their help in producing this March cover.

BfK No. 127 Articles

Editorial - March 2001

News and comment from the Editor.
A Sailboat in the Sky

Children's Laureate, Quentin Blake, describes an unusual picture book project.
Windows into Illustration: Sara Fanelli

Sara Fanelli on her picture book, Dear Diary.
Inspiring ‘Reluctant’ Readers

Gwynneth Bailey and David Bennett on books that have worked for them.
Authorgraph No.127: Sharon Creech

Sharon Creech interviewed by Suzanne Manczuk.
Doing a School Visit

Vivian French offers some practical suggestions.
Whose History? The Atlantic Slave Trade

Errol Lloyd examines Frances Mary Hendry's Chains.
BfK Briefing - March 2001

News * Events * Obituaries * Awards
Useful Organisations No.14: Young Writer

Triennial magazine or tape providing platform for young writers aged 18 and under.
I Wish I’d Written… Mossop’s Last Chance

Ann Jungman chooses Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner's Mossop's Last Chance.
Good Reads: Cwmtawe Comprehensive School

Reviews from pupils of Cwmtawe Comprehensive School, Swansea.
Classics in Short No.26: Songs of Innocence

Brian Alderson on William Blake's Songs of Innocence.

Editor's Choice

Noughts and Crosses
Malorie Blackman
(Doubleday Childrens)
5

Fifteen-year-old Callum is a Nought, a member of a despised racial group which is also an underclass. Meggie, his mother, works as a servant for the Hadleys (rich Crosses who are members of the racial elite) so Callum has grown up knowing and...

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New Talent

The Road to Somewhere
Helen Armstrong
(Orion Children's Books)
3

When Cow tells Ratty that farmer is sending her to never-come-back, action is needed. Ratty is known to be a good thinker and he comes up with a plan to leave the farm and find Somewhere-else. As the two friends escape, they are joined by Woolly...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 127

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

Under 5s

  • Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!
    Malachy Doyle
    5

  • The Kingfisher Book of Fairy Tales
    5

  • Mei Ling's Hiccups
    David Mills
    5

  • Do Little Mermaids Wet Their Beds?
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • What am I?
    Aurélie Lanchais
    Alain Crozon
    5

  • Splosh!
    Philippe Corentin
    Sarah Pakenham
    4

  • Ellie and the Butterfly Kitten
    Gill Lobel
    4

  • Good Night, Sleep Tight
    4

  • The Oxford Nursery Treasury
    Ian Beck
    4

  • Flora the Frog
    Shirley Isherwood
    3

  • The Selfish Giant
    Oscar Wilde
    3

  • Buri and the Marrow
    Henriette Barkow
    3

  • The Rabbit Who Couldn't Say No
    Elena Goldoni
    3

  • The Big White Book with <i>almost</i> nothing in it
    Mike Brownlow
    3

  • Ten Little Ladybirds
    Melanie Gerth
    Laura Huliska-Beith
    3

Ages 5-8

  • The Birdman
    Melvin Burgess
    5

  • Nanu, Penguin Chick
    Theresa Radcliffe
    4

  • Down the Dragon's Tongue
    Margaret Mahy
    4

  • Katie and the Sunflowers
    James Mayhew
    4

  • Inside Mary Elizabeth's House
    Pamela Allen
    4

  • Start Writing Adventure Stories; Start Writing About Things I Do; Start Writing Amazing Stories; Start Writing About People and Places; Teachers' Resource Book for Start Writing
    Penny King
    Ruth Thomson
    3

  • Zeus Conquers the Titans and other Greek Myths; Athena and the Olive Tree and other Greek Myths
    3

  • The Muddled Monsters; The Perfect Pizza; The Posh Party; The Potty Panto; Circle Magic; Crazy Magic; Magic Hotel; Mouse Magic
    Scoular Anderson
    3

  • Sitting Ducks
    Michael Bedard
    3

  • The Phantom Cat of the Opera
    David Wood
    3

  • The Lion Book of World Stories
    3

  • Why Be Bossy?; Why Be Unfriendly?; Why Fight?; Why Lose Your Temper?; Why Not Share?; Why Tease?
    Janine Amos
    Annabel Spenceley
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Ballet School: What it takes to make a dancer
    Camilla Jessel
    5

  • Firewords: A Book of Wordplay Poems
    5

  • The Orchard Book of Love and Friendship
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • The Names Upon the Harp
    Marie Heaney
    5

  • Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
    5

  • Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition
    Meredith Hooper
    4

  • The Book About Books
    Chris Powling
    3

  • The Oldest Girl in the World; The Emperor's Watchmaker; Points of View with Professor Peekaboo
    Carol Ann Duffy
    3

  • The Road to Somewhere
    Helen Armstrong
    3

  • Dirty Rotten Tricks
    Simon Cheshire
    3

  • Ghost at the Window
    Margaret McAllister
    3

  • Aftershock!; Hurricane!
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Slimy Science and Awesome Experiments
    Susan Martineau
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Noughts and Crosses
    Malorie Blackman
    5

  • In My Hands
    Irene Gut Opdyke
    Jennifer Taylor
    4

  • Causes; The Death Camps
    Pat Levy
    4

  • World War II
    Simon Adams
    4

  • The Hard Man of the Swings
    Jeanne Willis
    4

  • Missing
    Catherine MacPhail
    4

  • In Flame
    Gaye Hiçyilmaz
    4

  • The Perfect Journey: Winners of The Guardian/Piccadilly teenage writing competition
    Michael Palin
    4

  • The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
    4

  • The Kingfisher illustrated Animal Encyclopedia
    David Burnie
    4

  • Year of the Griffin
    Diana Wynne Jones
    4

  • The Lady with Iron Bones
    Jan Mark
    4

  • The Right Moment; Final Victory; Blitz Boys; Blood and Ice
    David Belbin
    4

  • In and Out the Shadows
    Sandy Brownjohn
    4

  • And Baby Makes Two
    Dyan Sheldon
    3

  • The Drop
    Anthony Masters
    3

  • River Boy
    Tim Bowler
    3

  • Control-Shift
    Nick Manns
    3

  • When the Guns Fall Silent
    James Riordan
    3

  • The Unidentified Frying Omelette
    Andrew Fusek Peters
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Picture Books Sans Frontières
    Penni Cotton
    5

  • Edward Ardizzone: Sketches for Friends
    5

BfK News

THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

Little Rebels prize logoThe shortlist for the 2019 Little Rebels Award has been announced. Seven books have made the list with war and conflict recurring themes.

read more...
SHORTLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Selected by volunteer Youth Librarians from longlists of 20 books per medal, there are eight on each shortlist.

Alongside previously shortlisted authors and illustrators, there are newcomers on each shortlist, and as the poetry boom for young readers continues, three verse novels make the Carnegie shortlist by US authors Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds.

The 2019 shortlists are as follows:

read more...
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Raúf and The Colours of History by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Marc-Etienne Peintre, have been revealed as the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award winners.

read more...
LONGLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Members of YLG have selected 20 books for each list from no less than 254 nominations.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS 2019

Funny Women win the Lollies!

Lollies winners 2019

Elys Dolan, Emer Stamp and Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon have been named the winners of the 2019 Laugh Out Loud Awards, or Lollies.

read more...
HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

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FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

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SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

read more...
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