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Books for Keeps 131 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 131 - November 2001

Cover Story
This issue's cover is from Andrew Matthews' and Angela Barrett's The Orchard Book of Shakespeare Stories. Angela Barrett is interviewed by Quentin Blake. Thanks to Orchard Books for their help with this November cover.

BfK No. 131 Articles

Editorial - November 2001

News and comment from the Editor.
Treats at Christmas

Joanna Carey on books for giving.
Finding the Real Shakespeare

Michael Rosen on his new book Shakespeare: His Work and His World.
Fairy Tales in the New Millennium

Brian Alderson on authenticity and the storyteller's art.
BfK Profile: Lynne Markham

Julia Eccleshare on the novels of Lynne Markham.
Inspiring 'Reluctant' Readers

Arthur Shenton on how reading for a purpose hits the spot.
Jack's First Books - November 2001

Gary McKeone concludes his baby son's reading diary.
Authorgraph No.131: Angela Barrett

Angela Barrett interviewed by Quentin Blake.
BfK Briefing - November 2001

News * Events * Publications * Awards * Obituary * Letters to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.18: The Book Art Project

Encouraging the teaching of writing through the book arts.
Good Reads: Fernwood Comprehensive School

Reviews of the Carnegie shortlisted titles from Fernwood Comprehensive School, Nottingham.

Classics in Short No.30: Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales

Brian Alderson on the tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

Editor's Choice

The Boy Who Was Brought Up by Teddy Bears
Jeanne Willis
(Andersen Press Ltd)
4

Believing him to be ‘all alone in the world’, three teddy bears adopt a baby they find in the woods and bring him up. In the tradition of feral children of legend, the baby grows up believing himself to be a teddy bear (he walks like one and...

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New Talent

Crazy
Benjamin Lebert
(Puffin Books)
5

An autobiographical novel by the then 16-year-old Lebert, Crazy opens with his arrival at Castle Neuseelen boarding school, his fifth school and one on which his parents are pinning hopes for improved grades. Benjamin introduces himself as...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 131

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

Under 5s

  • Blue Horse and Tilly
    Helen Stephens
    5

  • Good Dog, Daisy
    Lisa Kopper
    4

  • The Boy Who Was Brought Up by Teddy Bears
    Jeanne Willis
    4

  • One Too Many Tigers ¦ Squeak! Squeak!
    Cressida Cowell
    3

  • Let's Go, Anna!
    Vivian French
    3

  • What Does Teddy Like to Wear?
    Prue Theobalds
    3

  • The Three Billy Goats Gruff
    Henriette Barkow
    3

  • Humphrey's Playtime; Humphrey's Garden
    Sally Hunter
    3

  • Farmer George and the New Piglet; Farmer George and the Snowstorm
    Nick Ward
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Ug
    Raymond Briggs
    5

  • Katje the Windmill Cat
    Gretchen Woelfle
    5

  • Nii Kwei's Day; Cassio's Day; Yikang's Day; Polina's Day
    Francis Provencal
    Catherine McNamara
    4

  • Kevin and the Pirate Test; Smudger and the Smelly Fish; Doris's Brilliant Birthday; Captain Motley and the Pirate's Gold
    Margaret Ryan
    4

  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    C S Lewis
    4

  • One Hot Penguin
    Jamie Rix
    3

  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice
    Sally Grindley
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Acid Rain
    Sally Morgan
    5

  • Friendly Matches
    Allan Ahlberg
    5

  • The Lost Thing
    Shaun Tan
    5

  • The Birth of the Earth; Life Finds its Feet; The Day of the Dinosaurs; The Stick and Stone Age
    Jacqui Bailey
    4

  • The Yellow House
    Susan Goldman Rubin
    4

  • Swings and Shadows: A Childhood in Poetry
    4

  • All About Bullying
    Lesley Ely
    3

  • Favourite Writers
    Kate Jones
    3

  • Brooksie; Sudden Death
    Neil Arksey
    3

  • What Howls at the Moon in Frilly Knickers?
    E F Smith
    3

  • Pony in the Dark
    K M Peyton
    3

  • Polly's Running Away Book
    Frances Thomas
    3

  • The Usborne First Encyclopedia of Space
    Paul Dowswell
    3

  • Tom's Midnight Garden
    Philippa Pearce
    2

  • The Wonderful Thursday Club: Animal Poems
    Gordon Snell
    2

Ages 10-14

  • The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
    Terry Pratchett
    5

  • Crazy
    Benjamin Lebert
    5

  • Elske
    Cynthia Voigt
    5

  • Baldur's Bones
    Mary Arrigan
    4

  • Oranges and Murder
    Alison Prince
    4

  • Cleopatra: The Queen of Kings; Crusades: The Struggle for the Holy Lands
    Fiona Macdonald
    4

  • Out of the Shadows
    Sue Hines
    4

  • United Nations; UNICEF; NATO
    Linda Melvern
    4

  • In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid
    Penelope Lively
    4

  • Wolf Summer
    Andrew Matthews
    3

  • Bad Company
    Catherine MacPhail
    3

  • The Skin I'm In
    Sharon G Flake
    3

  • The If Game
    Catherine Storr
    3

  • The Time-Travelling Cat and the Roman Eagle
    Julia Jarman
    3

  • Drugs
    Emma Haughton
    Jon Rees
    3

  • G.S.O.H.
    Andrew Matthews
    3

  • Genetics; Racism
    Robert Snedden
    3

  • The Bottle-top King
    Jonathan Kebbe
    3

  • The Adventures of Jimmy Scar
    Jeanne Willis
    3

  • Christina's Face
    Penny Kendal
    3

  • Sebastian's Quest
    C A Jefferies
    3

  • One Mum Too Many! (Step-Chain 1); You Can't Fancy Your Stepsister (Step-Chain 2)
    Ann Bryant
    2

  • Fiesta
    Kate Cann
    2

  • Dinosaurs; Inside the Internet
    Eric Buffetaut
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Creating Writers: a creative writing manual for schools
    James Carter
    4

  • Reading Series Fiction: From Arthur Ransome to Gene Kemp
    Victor Watson
    3

BfK News

EMPATHYLAB ANNOUNCES 2020 READ FOR EMPATHY BOOK COLLECTION

Raising A Generation of Empathic Citizens

Empathy Day logo

read more...
JASBINDER BILAN WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH HER DEBUT NOVEL

Jasbinder Bilan

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2019: SHORTLIST FEATURES

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award alongside newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing.

Costa Book Awards logo

Click the links below to read new Books for Keeps feature articles on each of the shortlisted authors.

read more...
THE IBBY LIST OF OUSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Dr Rebecca Butler writes.

Readers of Books for Keeps will remember that IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) arranges every two years a competition to identify the very best books for young readers featuring disability or designed to be read by young people with disabilities. Last time this list was compiled in 2017/18 I was the coordinator for the UK section.

read more...
ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS’ GREAT ADVENTURERS WINS THE 2019 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Educational Writers’ Award is Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers: The Incredible Expeditions of 20 Explorers (Big Picture Press).

Alastair Humphreys Great Adventures

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BLACKMAN AND DOWNHAM ON SHORTLIST FOR 2019 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award, which was announced today, 26th November 2020. Alongside them on the list are newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing, both of whom are published by Chicken House.

The 2019 Costa Children’s Award shortlist

read more...
2019 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD SHORTLIST

Shortlist announced for the UK’s only award for creative educational writing

The Society of Authors and the Authors’ Licensing& Collecting Society have announced the shortlist for the 2019 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s only award for educational writing which stimulates and enhances the learning experience.

read more...
‘INSPIRING’: CONTENDERS FOR THE 2020 BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS REVEALED

Blue Peter Book Award logo

Six books have made it onto the shortlists for the 2020 Blue Peter Book Awards. There are two categories: Best Story, and – in non-fiction November – Best Book with Facts.

read more...
NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2020 CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

And we’re off… the nominations for the 2020 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are announced today, Monday 4th November.

read more...
2020 UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE LONGLISTS

UKLA Awards

A record number of submissions and a new category to highlight information books marks the 12th longlists for the UKLA Awards, the only national awards judged by active classroom teachers.

read more...
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