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Books for Keeps 145 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 145 - March 2004

Cover Story
This issue's cover illustration is from Satoshi Kitamura's Once Upon an Ordinary School Day. Satoshi Kitamura is interviewed by Martin Salisbury. Thanks to Andersen Press for their help with this March cover.

BfK No. 145 Articles

Editorial - March 2004

News and comment from the Editor.
The Dog That Kept Barking and the other top titles of 2003

Children's books experts look back at the previous year's publishing.
Authorgraph No.145: Satoshi Kitamura

Satoshi Kitamura interviewed by Martin Salisbury.
BfK Profile: Marcus Sedgwick

Nicholas Tucker on the novels of Marcus Sedgwick.
Responding to Young Adult Fiction

Julie Bertagna on controversial subjects for teens.
Pullman's Daemons

Margaret Rustin on daemons in Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'.
Maple Ridge School Book Trail

Liz Taylor on setting up a book trail in a day special school
BfK Briefing - March 2004

News * Awards * Obituaries * Letter to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.32: Talk to Your Baby

The National Literacy Trust's Early Language Campaign.
Hal's Reading Diary - March 2004

Roger Mills on how Hal no longer depends on pictures in books.
I Wish I'd Written... Mortal Engines

Anthony Horowitz chooses Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines.
Good Reads: Lanesborough School, Guildford, Surrey

Reviews from pupils of Lanesborough School, Guildford, Surrey.
Classics in Short No.44: Father Christmas

Brian Alderson on Raymond Briggs' s Father Christmas.

Editor's Choice

All Kinds of Beliefs
Emma Damon
(Mantra Lingua)
5

The republication of this charming introduction for young readers to the major religions in a dual language edition appears timely. Even-handedly reflecting difference both within particular religious communities ('Some Sikh boys wear a patka...

read more

New Talent

Millions
Frank Cottrell Boyce
(Macmillan Children's Books)
5

Cottrell Boyce is an accomplished screenwriter (Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie etc as well as a stint on Coronation Street) so the confidence, vitality and wit of this ambitiously structured first novel astonish the reader...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 145

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

Under 5s

  • Woolly Jumper: The Story of Wool
    Meredith Hooper
    5

  • Frog is Sad
    Max Velthuijs
    4

  • Winnie's New Computer
    Valerie Thomas
    4

  • Little Yellow Dog Says Look at Me; Little Yellow Dog Gets a Shock
    Francesca Simon
    4

  • Precious Water: A Book of Thanks; Little Apple: A Book of Thanks; Good Bread: A Book of Thanks
    Brigitte Weninger
    3

  • Milet Mini Picture Dictionary
    Sedat Turhan
    3

  • Rastamouse and the Crucial Plan
    Michael De Souza
    3

  • Jingle Jangle Jungle
    3

  • The Alphabet Room
    Sara Pinto
    3

  • Blue Rabbit
    Angela McAllister
    2

  • Cluck, Cluck Who's There?
    James Mayhew
    2

Ages 5-8

  • I Hate School
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • Oxford Treasury of Fairy Tales
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • All Kinds of Beliefs
    Emma Damon
    5

  • Who is Mrs Green?
    David McKee
    4

  • The Blue Whale
    Christine Corning Malloy
    4

  • Jason and the Golden Fleece
    James Riordan
    3

  • The Bogey Man
    Shoo Rayner
    3

  • Cinderlily: A Floral Fairy Tale
    Christine Tagg
    3

  • The Orchard Book of Swords, Sorcerers and Superheroes
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Rocky; Chicken in a Basket
    Rebecca Lisle
    3

  • The Bee-man of Orn
    Frank R Stockton
    2

  • Lemmy was a Diver
    Colin McNaughton
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Seriously Weird
    Gene Kemp
    5

  • Millions
    Frank Cottrell Boyce
    5

  • The Jesse Tree
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • Ancient Rome; Dinosaur
    Peter Chrisp
    4

  • Cat and the Stinkwater War
    Kate Saunders
    4

  • The Tempest: A Shakespeare Story; Hamlet: A Shakespeare Story
    4

  • When Mum Threw out the Telly
    E F Smith
    3

  • Running Wilde; Wilde Child
    Jenny Oldfield
    3

  • Free Lance and the Lake of Skulls
    Paul Stewart
    3

  • Dog Days
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    3

  • The Legend of the Fish
    Gita Wolf
    Sirish Rao
    Emanuele Scanziani
    3

  • Erika's Story
    Ruth Vander Zee
    3

  • Survivor's Science in the Desert; Survivor's Science on an Island; Survivor's Science in the Rainforest; Survivor's Science at Sea
    Peter D Riley
    1

Ages 10-14

  • Encyclopedia of People; The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia
    4

  • The Rough Guide to Books for Teenagers
    Nicholas Tucker
    Julia Eccleshare
    4

  • The Cup of the World
    John Dickinson
    4

  • The Amulet of Samarkand
    Jonathan Stroud
    4

  • August '44
    Carlo Gébler
    4

  • The Lastling
    Philip Gross
    4

  • Saskia's Journey
    Theresa Breslin
    4

  • Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Rome
    Mike Corbishley
    3

  • Eureka! Great Inventors and their Brilliant Brainwaves
    Richard Platt
    3

  • Fundamentalism; Nationalism
    Alex Woolf
    3

  • Tales of the Dead: Ancient Egypt
    Stewart Ross
    3

  • Inkheart
    Cornelia Funke
    3

  • Hello H2O
    John Agard
    3

  • Blood Red Horse
    K M Grant
    3

  • Deep Secret
    Berlie Doherty
    3

  • The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina
    Caroline Lawrence
    3

  • Hope was Here
    Joan Bauer
    3

  • The Last Resort
    J Patrick Lewis
    3

  • The Good Child's Guide to Rock'n' Roll
    Carol Ann Duffy
    2

  • Dead Teachers Don't Talk
    David Belbin
    2

Ages 14+

  • Looking for JJ
    Anne Cassidy
    5

  • Milkweed
    Jerry Spinelli
    5

  • Boy 2 Girl
    Terence Blacker
    4

  • Star
    John Singleton
    4

  • Knife Edge
    Malorie Blackman
    3

  • Yoss
    Odo Hirsch
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • You're a Brick, Angela!
    Mary Cadogan
    Patricia Craig
    4

BfK News

THE YEAR'S BEST POETRY FOR CHILDREN: CLiPPA 2019 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2019 shortlist for their poetry award, CLiPPA (The Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Children’s poetry is booming and there were a record number of entries for the CLiPPA, the only award for children’s poetry.

read more...
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.

read more...
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

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

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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.

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