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Books for Keeps 151 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 151 - March 2005

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Grace Nichols’ Everybody Got a Gift. Grace Nichols is interviewed by Morag Styles. Thanks to A & C Black for their help with this March cover.

BfK No. 151 Articles

Editorial - March 2005

News and comment from the Editor.
Early Years Reading: getting young readers passionate about books

Alison Kelly explains ways to 'cultivate' young readers.
The Best Stories of 2004

Librarians and booksellers recommend their top titles.
BfK Profile: Philippa Pearce

Julia Eccleshare looks at Philippa Pearce's distinguished career.
Hal’s Reading Diary - March 2005

Roger Mills explores Hal's obsession with books on knights.
The Art of the Translator: translating children's books into English

Nicholas Tucker on translating children's books into English.
Take 3: Laureates

Revelations from Quentin Blake, Anne Fine and Michael Morpurgo.
BfK Briefing - March 2005

News * Events * Awards * Obituaries
Useful Organisations No.37: Itchy Coo

Award-winning imprint specialising in Scots language books for children.
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Jean Sprackland discusses Nimrah Zeb's 'My Two Week Cat'.
Authorgraph No.151: Grace Nichols

Grace Nichols interviewed by Morag Styles.
I Wish I’d Written... The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Anne Cassidy chooses Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Good Reads: King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds

Reviews from pupils of King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds.
Classics in Short No.50: The Box of Delights

Brian Alderson on John Masefield's The Box of Delights.

Editor's Choice

Polo Finds a Friend
Mathew Price
(Mathew Price Ltd)
5

This small square book with its pulls and flap is a masterly account in miniature of the trials and the pleasures of friendship, touching on such important early childhood themes as losing and finding, loving and hating.

Polo the dog has...

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New Talent

The Dreamwalker's Child
Steve Voake
(Faber & Faber)
3

A gap in the fabric between our world and the world of Aurobon has been opened and through it schoolboy Sam Palmer is snatched from the English country lane where he has been riding his bike to be thrust into a high security prison in the warring...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 151

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

Under 5s

  • Polo Finds a Friend
    Mathew Price
    5

  • You're All My Favourites
    Sam McBratney
    5

  • Cushie Butterfield
    Colin McNaughton
    4

  • It's Quacking Time!
    Martin Waddell
    4

  • Bartholomew and the Bug
    Neal Layton
    4

  • When I Grow Up
    Colin McNaughton
    4

  • Alphabet book
    Pittau Gervais
    4

  • Oscar and Hoo Forever
    Theo
    3

  • The Bad Mood!
    Moritz Petz
    3

  • Baba's Gift
    Beverley Naidoo
    Maya Naidoo
    3

  • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Said Mouse to Mole; Going to the Dentist; The Wonderful Gift; Numbers, Book 1
    2

  • Floppy's Friends
    Guido Van Genechten
    2

  • my very first Bedtime book
    Lois Rock
    1

Ages 5-8

  • Tales Told in Tents: Stories from Central Asia
    Sally Pomme Clayton
    5

  • Katie and the Bathers
    James Mayhew
    4

  • The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
    Neil Gaiman
    4

  • Alphabet Poem
    Michael Rosen
    4

  • So Hungry
    Daniel Morden
    3

  • If Dinosaurs were Cats and Dogs
    Colin McNaughton
    1

Ages 8-10

  • The Scarecrow and his Servant
    Philip Pullman
    5

  • What Makes Me Me?
    Robert Winston
    4

  • Taliesin: The Boy Wizard; Shock Forest and other stories; The Barber's Clever Wife; The Path of Finn McCool; Snow Horse and other stories; Sky Ship and other stories
    4

  • Football Fantasy Mersey City 4 4 2; Football Fantasy Tyne Athletic 4 3 3; Football Fantasy Medway United 4 5 1; Football Fantasy Thames United 4 4 2
    Jonathan Sutherland
    3

  • Aneil has a Food Allergy; Jordan has a Hearing Loss; Luke has Down's Syndrome; Sam uses a Wheelchair; Becky has Diabetes; Zack has Asthma
    Jillian Powell
    3

  • Swedish Folk Tales
    3

  • Brind and the Dogs of War
    Christopher Russell
    3

  • The Dreamwalker's Child
    Steve Voake
    3

  • Amadans
    Malachy Doyle
    3

  • Horse Tales
    3

  • Lucy and the Big Bad Wolf
    Ann Jungman
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • Under Fire: Children of the Second World War tell their Stories
    5

  • Girl Underground
    Morris Gleitzman
    5

  • Pagan in Exile
    Catherine Jinks
    4

  • Tiger, Tiger
    Lynne Reid Banks
    4

  • The Witch of Clatteringshaws
    Joan Aiken
    4

  • No Way Am I Living With Her!
    Caroline Plaisted
    4

  • 35 Kilos of Hope
    Anna Gavalda
    4

  • A City Through Time
    Philip Steele
    4

  • Bad, Bad Darlings: Small But Deadly
    Sam Llewellyn
    4

  • Blood on Snow
    Tim Bowler
    3

  • Back to The Divide
    Elizabeth Kay
    3

  • One Chance
    Steve May
    3

  • At the Firefly Gate
    Linda Newbery
    3

  • The Ice Road
    Jaap Ter Haar
    3

  • Children of the Lamp: the Akhenaten adventure
    P B Kerr
    2

  • The Unrivalled Spangles
    Karen Wallace
    2

Ages 14+

  • Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
    Susanna Clarke
    5

  • The Wish House
    Celia Rees
    5

  • Politics and Propaganda
    Adam Hibbert
    4

  • Candy
    Kevin Brooks
    4

  • The House in Norham Gardens
    Penelope Lively
    4

Books About Children's Books

  • Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures for Publication
    Martin Salisbury
    5

  • Publisher
    Tom Maschler
    4

  • Studies in Children's Literature 1500-2000
    4

  • Chin Up, Chest Out, Jemima! A Celebration of the Schoolgirls' Story
    Mary Cadogan
    3

BfK News

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...
JESSICA LOVE NAMED WINNER OF THE KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE 2019 FOR JULIAN IS A MERMAID

Jessica Love

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