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Books for Keeps 155 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 155 - November 2005

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration features Anthony Horowitz’s Raven’s Gate. Anthony Horowitz is interviewed by Nicholas Tucker. Thanks to Walker Books for their help with this November cover.

BfK No. 155 Articles

Editorial - November 2005

News and comment from the Editor.

Books as Gifts at Christmas

Rosemary Stones suggests books for giving.

Counting Books

Sheila Ebbutt on books that count.

The CLPE Poetry Prize 2005

Tony Mitton explains the judging process.

BfK Briefing - November 2005

Awards * News * Letter to the Editor * Obituary

Useful Organisations No.41: National Centre for Language & Literacy

Extensive collection of children's books and resources, plus conferences, courses, publications and membership scheme.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award

Andrew Bailey discusses Haf Davies' 'Beans, Babes?'

Good Reads: Ballyclare High School, County Antrim

Reviews from Ballyclare High School, County Antrim.

Authorgraph No.155: Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz interviewed by Nicholas Tucker.

I Wish I'd Written... Le Grand Meaulnes

Sally Gardner chooses Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes.

Hal's Reading Diary - November 2005

Roger Mills has more thoughts on the nature of humour.

Classics in Short No.54: Selected Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Brian Alderson on the Brothers Grimm's Selected Tales.

Editor's Choice

Killer Gorilla

Jeanne Willis
(Andersen)
5

When mouse loses her baby it seems that things couldn’t get any worse – that is until a huge, scary gorilla starts chasing after her. Mouse runs and runs – to China, to America, to Australia – with the gorilla in hot pursuit. Finally she reaches...

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New Talent

Elsewhere

Gabrielle Zevin
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

15-year-old Liz is ‘just a girl who forgot to look both ways before she crossed the street’. It comes as a shock to her that she is in fact dead and that everyone else on the SS Nile cruising towards the land of Elsewhere is also dead. Liz is met...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 155

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+

Under 5s

  • Piglet and Mama

    Margaret Wild
    5
  • Big Blue Engine ¦ Big Red Fire Engine ¦ Big Yellow Taxi ¦ Little Red Plane

    Ken Wilson-Max
    5
  • Killer Gorilla

    Jeanne Willis
    5
  • for sure! for sure! ¦ Winnie at the Seaside

    Hans Christian Andersen
    4
  • Sound Like Someone Trying Not to Make a Sound, A

    John Irving
    4
  • Otter's First Swim, An

    Adrienne Kennaway
    4
  • Joe's Dog

    Angela Joy
    4
  • Bears

    Ruth Krauss
    4
  • Where's My Darling Daughter?

    Mij Kelly
    3
  • Princess and the Rainbow Coat, The

    3
  • Me and My Brother

    Caroline Uff
    3
  • Little, Little House, The

    Jessica Souhami
    3
  • I Love My Daddy; I Love My Mummy

    Sebastien Braun
    3
  • Buzz Bumble to the Rescue

    Lynn E Hazen
    3
  • Baby Finds; Baby Goes; Baby Noises; Baby Plays

    Derek Brazell
    3

Ages 5-8

  • We're Riding on a Caravan: An Adventure on the Silk Road

    Laurie Krebs
    5
  • Pigs Might Fly!

    Steve Cox
    Jonathan Emmett
    4
  • Night-time Tale

    Ruth Brown
    4
  • Materials

    Clive Gifford
    4
  • Dog Called Whatnot, A; Mummy Family Find Fame, The

    Linda Newbery
    3
  • Just Like Sisters

    Angela McAllister
    3
  • Birds; Reptiles

    Sue Malyan
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Girl Who Married a Lion, The (Folk Tales from Africa)

    Alexander McCall Smith
    5
  • Action Jackson

    Jan Greenberg
    Sandra Jordan
    5
  • Tree House, The

    Gillian Cross
    4
  • Runny Babbit

    Shel Silverstein
    4
  • Old Tom; Old Tom at the Beach

    Leigh Hobbs
    4
  • Itching for a Fight

    Joel Snape
    4
  • Corydon and the Island of Monsters

    Tobias Druitt
    4
  • Come Christmas

    Eleanor Farjeon
    4
  • Beasts of Clawstone Castle, The

    Eva Ibbotson
    4
  • Ancient Rome

    Stewart Ross
    4
  • Marie Antoinette

    Katie Daynes
    3
  • Cal and the Amazing Anti-Gravity Machine

    Richard Hamilton
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Zip's Apollo

    Philip Ridley
    5
  • White Darkness, The

    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5
  • Martin Luther King, Jr

    Amy Pastan
    5
  • How Hedley Hopkins Did a Dare

    Paul Jennings
    5
  • Whitaker's World of Facts

    Russell Ash
    4
  • War: Stories of Conflict

    4
  • Usborne Introduction to the Second World War, The

    Paul Dowswell
    4
  • Spy Force Revealed; Time and Space Machine, The

    Deborah Abela
    4
  • Seeker

    William Nicholson
    4
  • I, Coriander

    Sally Gardner
    4
  • How Cool Stuff Works

    Chris Woodford
    4
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

    J K Rowling
    4
  • Gladiatrix

    Frances Hendry
    4
  • Flowing Queen, The

    Kai Meyer
    4
  • Fire Pony

    Rodman Philbrick
    4
  • The Bull Raid

    Carlo Gébler
    4
  • Breakfast at Sadie's

    Lee Weatherly
    4
  • Ten Days to Zero

    Bernard Ashley
    3
  • So Below: Key to the City

    Matt Whyman
    3
  • Shadewell Shenanigans, The

    David Lee Stone
    3
  • Rainbow Opera, The

    Elizabeth Knox
    3
  • Lord Loss

    Darren Shan
    3
  • Leonardo and the Death Machine

    Robert J Harris
    3
  • Bridge to the Stars, A

    Henning Mankell
    3
  • Saint of Dragons, The

    Jason Hightman
    2
  • Burying Beetle, The

    Ann Kelley
    2

Ages 14+

  • Elsewhere

    Gabrielle Zevin
    5
  • Scientists Anonymous

    Patricia Fara
    4
  • Ithaka

    Adèle Geras
    4
  • The Drowning

    Valerie Mendes
    4
  • Does Snogging Count as Exercise?

    Helen Salter
    4
  • Spiked!

    Sandra Glover
    3
  • Chanda's Secrets

    Allan Stratton
    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.’

read more...
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:

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