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Books for Keeps 143 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 143 - November 2003

Cover Story

This issue's cover illustration is from John Burningham's Borka. Burningham's work is discussed by Brian Alderson. Thanks to Random House Children's Books for their help with this November cover.

BfK No. 143 Articles

Editorial - November 2003

News and comment from the Editor.
On the Tightrope in Burningham-land

Brian Alderson on the career of John Burningham.
Christmas Treats

Rosemary Stones chooses books to give.
A Little Piece of Ground

Michael Rosen on Elizabeth Laird's latest novel.
Poetry Slam! Respect Slam!

Ceri Worman on competitive performance poetry.
Hal’s Reading Diary - November 2003

Roger Mills on Hal at 2 years and 9 months.
Authorgraph No.143: Bob Graham

Bob Graham interviewed by Joanna Carey.
BfK Briefing - November 2003

News *Events * Publications * Awards * Letter to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.30: Read Together!

The Scottish Executive's Home Reading Initiative.
I Wish I’d Written... Where the Wild Things Are

Marcia Williams chooses Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.
Good Reads: King Solomon High School, Ilford, Essex

Reviews from pupils of King Solomon High School, Ilford, Essex.
Classics in Short No.42: The Night Before Christmas

Brian Alderson on Clement Clarke Moore's The Night Before Christmas.

Editor's Choice

A Sterkarm Kiss
Susan Price
(Scholastic Press)
5

The sequel to The Sterkarm Handshake, Price's outstanding time slip novel in which people from the 21st century can return to the 16th, A Sterkarm Kiss tantalises the reader by bringing the protagonists together...

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New Talent

Eager
Helen Fox
(Hodder Children's Books)
3

'Eager' is the name that the Bell family give to their latest robot as it seems to sum up his personality - for Eager is a new kind of robot who can learn things and have feelings. Meanwhile the technocrat Morris family, who are rich enough to...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 143

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

Under 5s

  • Captain Duck
    Jez Alborough
    5

  • Little One Step
    Simon James
    5

  • Line and Circle
    Radhika Menon
    5

  • The Sheep Fairy: When Wishes Have Wings
    Ruth Louise Symes
    4

  • Go Maisy, Go!
    Lucy Cousins
    4

  • Five in the bed and the little one said...
    4

  • Hide & Speak French
    Catherine Bruzzone
    Susan Martineau
    3

  • The Rainbow Book of Nursery Tales
    Sam Childs
    3

  • Under the Bed
    Paul Bright
    3

  • Tinka
    Rainy Dohaney
    3

  • The Gossipy Parrot
    Shen Roddie
    3

  • Mary Had a Little Lamb
    Sam Childs
    3

  • The Moon; Minibeasts; The Sea; Chocolate; Teeth; Homes
    Claire Llewellyn
    2

  • Goldilocks and the Three Bears
    Kate Clynes
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Evie and the Man Who Helped God; Always and Forever
    Michael Foreman
    5

  • The Shape Game
    Anthony Browne
    5

  • Crispin and the Three Little Piglets
    Ted Dewan
    4

  • The Little Dictionary
    3

  • Violet and the Mean and Rotten Pirates
    Richard Hamilton
    3

  • Bold Bad Ben the Beastly Bandit
    Ann Jungman
    3

  • Spud
    Alison Prince
    3

  • A Winter's Tale
    Marcus Sedgwick
    3

  • Paddington and the Grand Tour
    Michael Bond
    3

  • Katie in London
    James Mayhew
    3

  • Be Boy Buzz
    Bell Hooks
    3

  • Sandbear
    Shen Roddie
    3

  • The Night Before Christmas
    Clement Clarke Moore
    1

Ages 8-10

  • Overheard on a Saltmarsh: Poets' Favourite Poems
    5

  • Children's World Atlas
    Simon Adams
    Mary Atkinson
    Sarah Phillips
    4

  • Magic in Art
    Alexander Sturgis
    3

  • The Unvisibles
    Ian Whybrow
    3

  • Attila, Loolagax and the Eagle
    Nichola McAuliffe
    3

  • Elephant Child
    Mary Ellis
    3

  • Eager
    Helen Fox
    3

  • Encore, Grace!
    Mary Hoffman
    3

  • Agent Spike and the Vegetables of Doom; Aargh, it's an Alien!
    Mark Burgess
    3

  • The Vanishing Rainforest
    Richard Platt
    2

Ages 10-14

  • DK Guide to Mammals
    Ben Morgan
    5

  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
    J K Rowling
    5

  • Pictures from the Fire
    Gaye Hiçyilmaz
    5

  • Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis
    J K Rowling
    4

  • Surprising Joy
    Valerie Bloom
    4

  • Stratford Boys
    Jan Mark
    4

  • Friction
    E R Frank
    4

  • Private Peaceful
    Michael Morpurgo
    4

  • Scabbit Isle
    Tom Pow
    4

  • Whoop An' Shout!
    Valerie Bloom
    4

  • Nelson Mandela
    Adrian Hadland
    3

  • Esperanza Rising
    Pam Munoz Ryan
    3

  • Going Straight
    Michael Coleman
    3

  • Mouse Attack
    Manjula Padma
    3

  • Feather Boy
    Nicky Singer
    3

  • Faking It
    Pete Johnson
    3

  • When Isla meets Luke meets Isla
    Rhian Tracey
    3

  • Borderland
    Rhiannon Lassiter
    2

Ages 14+

  • Grass
    C Z Nightingale
    5

  • A Sterkarm Kiss
    Susan Price
    5

  • Voices
    Sue Mayfield
    4

  • Small Gains
    K M Peyton
    4

  • No Angels
    Robert Swindells
    4

  • Many Stones
    Carolyn Coman
    4

  • Excluded
    3

  • Wendy
    Karen Wallace
    3

  • Friends, Enemies and Other Tiny Problems
    Rosie Rushton
    3

  • UNICEF; Greenpeace
    Steven Maddocks
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Ezra Jack Keats, A Bibliography and Catalogue
    5

  • Richmal Crompton, The Woman Behind Just William
    Mary Cadogan
    3

BfK News

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...
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

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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

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STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

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