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Books for Keeps 142 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 142 - September 2003

Cover Story
This issue's cover illustration is from David Almond's The Fire Eaters. Cover photograph is by Getty Images. David Almond is interviewed by Peter Hollindale. Thanks to Hodder Children's Books for their help with this September cover.

BfK No. 142 Articles

Editorial - September 2003

News and comment from the Editor.

Illustration on Show

Joanna Carey on the proposed Quentin Blake Gallery.

Windows into Illustration: Lauren Child

Lauren Child on Clarice Bean, That's Me.

Authorgraph No.142: David Almond

David Almond interviewed by Peter Hollindale.

Audio Books and Reluctant Readers

Julia Eccleshare on listening to stories.

Hal’s Reading Diary - September 2003

Roger Mills on Hal at 2 years and 7 month.

‘Art is a lie that tells the truth’

Meg Errington on the depiction of autism in children's books.

BfK Briefing - September 2003

Awards * News * Events * Obituary * Letters to the Editor

Useful Organisations No.29: The Beatrix Potter Society

A focus for those with an interest in all aspects of Beatrix Potter's life.

I Wish I’d Written... Holes

Eoin Colfer chooses Louis Sachar's Holes.

Good Reads: Lode Heath School, Solihull

Reviews from pupils of Lode Heath School, Solihull.

Classics in Short No.41: Moonfleet

Brian Alderson on John Meade Falkner's Moonfleet.

Editor's Choice

Ginger Finds a Home

Charlotte Voake
(Walker Books Ltd)
5

Sumptuously produced, this landscape format picture book begins with endpapers in a soft green. We graduate to dusty pink and then to cream as we reach the title page and onwards, Voake's scratchily expressive pen illustrations with hints of wash...

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New Talent

Power and Stone

Alice Leader
(Puffin Books)
3

After a long journey from Rome with their mother Claudia, Marcus and Telemachus rejoin their father Gaius, the commander of a fort on Hadrian's wall. The local tribe, the Brigante, appears to be friendly but the feelings of the conquered are not...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 142

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

Under 5s

  • Ginger Finds a Home

    Charlotte Voake
    5
  • Mrs Armitage: Queen of the Road

    Quentin Blake
    5
  • Alphabet: A Child's First ABC

    Alison Jay
    5
  • The Animals Went in Two by Two

    Jan Pieńkowski
    5
  • Catch!

    Trish Cooke
    4
  • Dudley Top Dog

    Jo Davies
    3
  • Tom's Tail

    Linda Jennings
    3
  • Leo le Chat comes to Play!

    Opal Dunn
    3
  • The New Yellow Digger

    Steve Augarde
    3
  • Fish Go Woof

    Miranda Maxwell-Hyslop
    2
  • Humphrey's Family

    Sally Hunter
    2
  • Blue Square; Green Star; Red Triangle

    Jane Cabrera
    2

Ages 5-8

  • The Cat Who Got Carried Away

    Allan Ahlberg
    5
  • The Usborne Internet-linked First Encyclopedia of History

    Fiona Chandler
    4
  • Edison's Fantastic Phonograph

    Diana Kimpton
    4
  • Clever Lollipop

    Dick King-Smith
    4
  • The Romantic Giant

    Kaye Umansky
    4
  • The Children of Lir

    4
  • The Last Sniffer; Snake-Pit School

    Susan Gates
    3
  • Babar's Gallery

    Laurent De Brunhoff
    3
  • Not Again, Red Riding Hood!

    Kate Clynes
    Louise Daykin
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Terrible Tudors

    Terry Deary
    4
  • Bullies, Bigmouths & So-called Friends

    J Alexander
    3
  • Judaism; Christianity

    Douglas Charing
    3
  • Jessica Haggerthwaite: Media Star

    Emma Barnes
    3
  • Shark Attack; Hunted

    Anthony Masters
    3
  • Blood Willow

    Thomas Bloor
    3

Ages 10-14

  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

    Mark Haddon
    5
  • The Tears of the Salamander

    Peter Dickinson
    5
  • Running Home

    Teresa Doran
    5
  • The Folk Keeper

    Franny Billingsley
    5
  • The Ganges; The Amazon

    Rob Bowden
    4
  • Eagle Strike

    Anthony Horowitz
    4
  • Motherland

    Vineeta Vijayaraghavan
    4
  • Flour Babies

    Anne Fine
    4
  • Leonardo da Vinci and his Super-brain

    Michael Cox
    3
  • The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare

    Sophie Masson
    3
  • The Same Stuff as Stars

    Katherine Paterson
    3
  • Power and Stone

    Alice Leader
    3
  • Suffragette

    Carol Drinkwater
    3
  • Montmorency

    Eleanor Updale
    3
  • Lines in the Sand: New Writing on War and Peace

    0

Ages 14+

  • The Garbage King

    Elizabeth Laird
    4
  • I Capture the Castle

    Dodie Smith
    4
  • The Sex Book

    Jane Pavanel
    3
  • big mouth and ugly girl

    Joyce Carol Oates
    3
  • Doing It

    Melvin Burgess
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Borrowed Finery, a memoir

    Paula Fox
    5
  • Reading and Reader Development: The Pleasure of Reading

    Judith Elkin
    Briony Train
    Debbie Denham
    3
  • Boys and Girls Forever, Reflections on Children's Classics

    Alison Lurie
    3

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.

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.

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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:

read more...
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