Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

Books for Keeps 146 - the children's book magazine online

Digital version – browse, print or download

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 146 - May 2004

Cover Story
This issue's cover illustration is from Jenny Nimmo's The Blue Boa. Jenny Nimmo is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare. Thanks to Egmont Books for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 146 Articles

Editorial - May 2004

News and comment from the Editor.

Words About Pictures: Beginning the Conversation

Ghislaine Kenyon on the Words About Pictures seminar.

Words About Pictures: The Primacy of Text

Brian Alderson on the principles of critical assessment.

Words About Pictures: Judging Illustration

Joanna Carey on what a reviewer needs to know.

Words About Pictures: Continuing the Conversation

Martin Salisbury on challenging illustration.

Novels in Verse, for Better or Worse

Peter Hollindale on the verse novel.

Authorgraph No.146: Jenny Nimmo

Jenny Nimmo interviewed by Julia Eccleshare.

BfK Profile: Gene Kemp

Philippa Milnes-Smith talks to Gene Kemp

BfK Briefing - May 2004

News * Awards * Letter to the Editor * Events

I Wish I'd Written... Thursday’s Child

Theresa Breslin chooses Sonya Hartnett's Thursday's Child.

Good Reads: The William Allitt School, Swadlincote, Derbyshire

Reviews from pupils of The William Allitt School, Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

Useful Organisations No.33: Children's Literature in Education

International journal about children's books.

Hal's Reading Diary - May 2004

Roger Mills on telling stories to Hal.

Classics in Short No.45: The Winter Sleepwalker

Brian Alderson on Joan Aiken's The Winter Sleepwalker.

Editor's Choice

Girl, 15 Charming but Insane

Sue Limb
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

Readers of The Guardian will remember how her hilarious column starring Dulcie Domum, wife, mother and romantic novelist, led to Sue Limb's career as the chronicler, in a number of tongue in cheek novels, of the contemporary female...

read more

New Talent

Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest

Jonathan Emmett
(Macmillan Children's Books)
4

Painterly texture expressively applied ensures that every spread in this engaging picture book is full of movement and life and every slight curve of a beak or inclination of a neck convey the emotions of Father and Mother Duck as they worry...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 146

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

Under 5s

  • Misery Moo

    Jeanne Willis
    5
  • Caribbean Animals

    Dawne Allette
    4
  • Have You Fed the Cat?

    Michèle Coxon
    4
  • Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest

    Jonathan Emmett
    4
  • Oww!

    Michael Rosen
    4
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

    Bill Martin Jr
    3
  • SCOOP the Digger!

    David Wojtowycz
    3
  • Traffic Jamboree

    Sue Nicholson
    3
  • Can You Cuddle Like a Koala?

    John Butler
    2
  • Bunny and Bee's Playful Day

    Sam Williams
    2
  • Shape Up Goz

    Steve Weatherill
    1

Ages 5-8

  • Where Willy Went...

    Nicholas Allan
    5
  • The Conquerors

    David McKee
    5
  • Angus Rides the Goods Train

    Alan Durant
    5
  • Looking After Louis

    Lesley Ely
    5
  • Rocks and Minerals

    Caroline Bingham
    4
  • Now We Have a Baby; When Goodbye is For Ever

    Lois Rock
    4
  • The Most Magnificent Mosque

    Ann Jungman
    4
  • Strike!

    Rob Childs
    3
  • The Generous Rabbit and other animal stories; Why Dogs Chase Cats... and other animal stories

    Bob Hartman
    3
  • The Princess Knight

    Cornelia Funke
    3
  • And The Good Brown Earth

    Kathy Henderson
    2
  • The Big Ugly Monster and the Little Stone Rabbit

    Chris Wormell
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Mysteries & Marvels of Nature

    Elizabeth Dalby
    4
  • The Head in the Sand: A Roman play; Bombs and Blackberries: A World War Two play

    Julia Donaldson
    4
  • Humble Tom's Big Trip: A Tudor play; Cruel Times: A Victorian play

    Kaye Umansky
    4
  • Lily Quench and the Dragon of Ashby

    Natalie Jane Prior
    3
  • The Legend of Spud Murphy

    Eoin Colfer
    3
  • Errand Lass

    Theresa Tomlinson
    3
  • Greece; Egypt

    Shahrukh Husain
    2

Ages 10-14

  • If the World Were a Village

    David J Smith
    5
  • Lirael; Abhorsen

    Garth Nix
    5
  • No Shame, No Fear

    Ann Turnbull
    5
  • The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo
    5
  • Girl, 15 Charming but Insane

    Sue Limb
    5
  • Pocket Guide to Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs

    Richard Parkinson
    4
  • The British Museum Ancient Egypt Pop-up Book

    James Putnam
    4
  • Last Train from Kummersdorf

    Leslie Wilson
    4
  • Al Capone Does My Shirts

    Gennifer Choldenko
    4
  • As Good as Dead in Downtown

    Neil Arksey
    4
  • The White Rider

    Chris Priestley
    4
  • Dusk

    Susan Gates
    4
  • Trash! On Ragpicker Children and Recycling

    Gita Wolf
    Anushka Ravishankar
    3
  • Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt; Everyday Life in Ancient Rome

    Neil Morris
    3
  • Piratica

    Tanith Lee
    3
  • The Stowaway

    Karen Hesse
    3
  • The City of Ember

    Jeanne DuPrau
    3
  • Ruby Tanya

    Robert Swindells
    3
  • Freedom Flight

    Bernard Ashley
    3
  • Secret City

    Jan-Andrew Henderson
    3
  • Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader; Agent Z Goes Wild

    Mark Haddon
    3
  • Other Echoes

    Adèle Geras
    3
  • Kamo's Escape

    Daniel Pennac
    3
  • My Mum's from Planet Pluto

    Gwyneth Rees
    2
  • Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet

    Michael Rosen
    2
  • The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

    Mary Gribbin
    John Gribbin
    1

Ages 14+

  • Unique

    Alison Allen-Gray
    5
  • Walking Naked

    Alyssa Brugman
    5
  • Black Mirror

    Nancy Werlin
    4
  • How It Works

    Graham Marks
    4
  • The Lost Boys' Appreciation Society; The Defender

    Alan Gibbons
    4
  • Now That I've Found You

    Rex Harley
    3
  • Dating Hamlet

    Lisa Fiedler
    3
  • Love, Hate and My Best Mate: poems about relationships

    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Where Next, Peter Rabbit? Beatrix Potter Studies X

    3

BfK News

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.

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.’

read more...
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.

read more...
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.

read more...
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:

read more...
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:

read more...
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...
School Library Association Information Book Award 2013 Short List Announcement

The School Library Association has announce the shortlist for the 2013 prize. The Information Book Award is an annual event, in its third year its aim is to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available.

The judges - a panel of experienced librarians, SLA board members and a member of Peters Bookselling Services - have produced what they describe as ‘a strong and very varied selection of titles for the shortlist’. These are

Under 7s

read more...
more
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account
website developed by purkiss