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Books for Keeps 162 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 162 - January 2007

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by Peter Bailey is from Alexander McCall Smith’s Akimbo and the Snakes. Alexander McCall Smith is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare. Thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for their help with this January cover.

BfK No. 162 Articles

Editorial - January 2007

News and comment from the Editor.
Toxic Childhood: Is the world damaging our children?

Nicholas Tucker discusses Sue Palmer's book on modern childhood.
On Being the Children’s Laureate

Jacqueline Wilson looks back on her Laureateship.
Early Years Reading: Francesca Simon’s ‘Horrid Henry’ series

Janet Evans explains his appeal.
Hal’s Reading Diary - January 2007

Roger Mills on Hal's discovery of Roald Dahl.
Diversity Matters: Growing markets in children’s publishing - ‘Books for All’ should include Gypsies, Roma and Travellers

Kate Evans on the lack of suitable titles for Traveller children.
Take 3: Poets

Valerie Bloom, Tony Mitton and Michael Rosen take poetic form.
Authorgraph No.162: Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith interviewed by Julia Eccleshare.
In the Picture: The Story So Far Conference

Julia Eccleshare reports on disability issues in children's literature.
I Wish I’d Written… Tadpole’s Promise

Mick Manning chooses Jeanne Willis's Tadpole's Promise.
Good Reads: St Christina’s School, North London

Reviews from St Christina's School, North London.
BfK Briefing - January 2007

Letters to the Editor * News * Obituaries
Useful Organisations No.48: www.100greatblackbritons.com

List of contemporary and historical Black Britons
Classics in Short No.61: Old Peter’s Russian Tales

Brian Alderson on Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales.

Editor's Choice

The Incredible Book Eating Boy
Oliver Jeffers
(HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
5

From a single word, to a sentence, to a page, to a whole book, Henry the book eating boy’s appetite for books becomes insatiable and his brain smarter and smarter as the ingested information rushes to it. Until the day he begins to feel ill and...

read more

New Talent

Black Book of Secrets, The
F E Higgins
(Macmillan Children's Books)
3

How can Ludlow Fitch trust anyone with parents like his? This debut novel gets off to a cracking start as Ludlow’s gin-soaked parents, desperate for money to buy drink, sell his teeth and hold him down for them to be extracted by the loathsome (...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 162

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

Under 5s

  • Pretty Salma
    Niki Daly
    5

  • Daft Bat
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • Little Bo Peep’s Library Book
    Cressida Cowell
    5

  • That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown
    Cressida Cowell
    4

  • Sausages
    Jessica Souhami
    4

  • Mother Goose Remembers
    Clare Beaton
    4

  • Lost Ears, The
    Phillida Gili
    4

  • Just Like Mr Croc!
    Jo Lodge
    4

  • Journey Home from Grandpa's, The
    Jemima Lumley
    4

  • Georgie and the Dragon
    Marion Rose
    4

  • Children: A First Art Book
    Lucy Micklethwait
    3

  • Little Red Train Goes Chuff Chuff Chuff, The
    Benedict Blathwayt
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Water Witcher
    Jan Ormerod
    5

  • George Saves the World by Lunchtime
    Jo Readman
    5

  • The Incredible Book Eating Boy
    Oliver Jeffers
    5

  • Shanyi Goes to China
    Sungwan So
    4

  • Scaredy Squirrel
    Melanie Watt
    4

  • Is it Because?
    Tony Ross
    4

  • Big Dog and Little Dog Go Flying; Who Loves Mr Tubs?
    Selina Young
    3

  • Whale
    David Lucas
    3

  • Very Important Idea, The
    Emma Dodson
    3

  • Traditional Stories from Native North America
    Linda Raczek
    3

  • Story of the Wind Children, The
    Sibylle Von Olfers
    3

  • Celebrity Cat
    Meredith Hooper
    3

  • Brains
    Kate Lennard
    3

  • Bamboo
    Paul Yee
    3

  • Isis and Osiris
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Starring Tracy Beaker
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Port Through Time, A
    Dr Anne Millard
    5

  • Dark Tales from the Woods
    Daniel Morden
    5

  • Trick and Other Stories, The
    George Layton
    4

  • Three Little Pirates, The
    Georgie Adams
    4

  • Lucy Willow
    Sally Gardner
    4

  • Don't Look Back!
    Steve Barlow
    Steve Skidmore
    4

  • Ugalabanda: The boy who got caught up in a war
    3

  • Touch of Wind! A
    Steve Barlow
    Steve Skidmore
    3

  • Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business; Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth; Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying; Junie B. Jones Is On Her Way!
    Barbara Park
    3

  • Black Book of Secrets, The
    F E Higgins
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Jango
    William Nicholson
    5

  • Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • There's More to Life
    Rachel Billington
    4

  • Stone Heart
    Charlie Fletcher
    4

  • Ruler of the Realm
    Herbie Brennan
    4

  • Nemesis: Into the Shadows
    Catherine MacPhail
    4

  • Larklight
    Philip Reeve
    4

  • Forbidden Room, The
    Sarah Wray
    4

  • Cassandra's Sister
    Veronica Bennett
    4

  • Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony
    Eoin Colfer
    4

  • Angel Isle
    Peter Dickinson
    4

  • Troll Mill
    Katherine Langrish
    3

  • Sure Fire
    Jack Higgins
    Justin Richards
    3

  • Questors
    Joan Lennon
    3

  • Prisoner's Apprentice, The
    Stephen Elboz
    3

  • Prison Ship
    Paul Dowswell
    3

  • Medici Seal, The
    Theresa Breslin
    3

  • Don't Tell
    Sandra Glover
    3

  • Cat among the Pigeons
    Julia Golding
    3

  • Capture, The
    Kathryn Lasky
    3

  • Slawter
    Darren Shan
    2

  • Pick Me Up
    2

  • Maddigan's Fantasia
    Margaret Mahy
    2

  • Flight of the Fire Thief
    Terry Deary
    2

  • Riddle of the Poisoned Monk, The
    Sarah Matthias
    1

Ages 14+

  • Things I Know About Love
    Kate Le Vann
    4

  • Snakehead
    Ann Halam
    4

  • Politics: Cutting Through the Crap
    Bali Rai
    4

  • Down to the Wire
    Bernard Ashley
    4

  • Blue Skies and Gunfire
    K M Peyton
    4

  • Blowout
    Susan Vaught
    4

  • Hood
    Stephen R Lawhead
    3

  • Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose, The
    Mary Hooper
    2

  • Angel Stone, The
    Livi Michael
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Rights of the Reader, The
    Daniel Pennac
    5

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

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