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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...

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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 (...

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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

DICKENS AND CHILDHOOD CONFERENCE

Dickens and Childhood Conference and Symposium Monday 18 June

It is not too late to book places on this special one-day conference on Dickens and Childhood, which will include walks, lectures, readings, and parallel sessions on topics that will appeal to students, teachers, Dickens experts, and the ‘interested reader’.

Marcia Williams Dickens

read more...
Siobhan Dowd Trust launches competition to help encourage a love of reading

The Siobhan Dowd Trust launches competition to help encourage a love of reading

The Siobhan Dowd Trust is proud to announce that Michael Rosen, Poet and ex-Childrens’ Laureate will be on the judging panel of a schools campaign, which is asking teachers and librarians for their ideas about how they encourage a love of books in their schools. The Trust will use the entries to build up a database of ideas which can be shared and swapped… and the ten best or most innovative ideas will receive £1000 worth of books.

read more...
Maurice Sendak June 1928 – May 2012

Maurice Sendak, who has died at the age of 83 was one of the most important illustrators of the twentieth century. Joanna Carey assesses his career for Books for Keeps

read more...
2012 Branford Boase Shortlist

Branford Boase Award logoSeven authors are on the shortlist for the 2012 Branford Boase Award, announced today, Monday 30 April.

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...
Riddell and Stewart Guest Speakers at IBBY UK AGM 2 May

Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart will be guest speakers at the IBBY UK AGM on Wednesday 2 May at Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, London. The meeting is free and non-members are welcome. Refreshments will be available from 6.30pm with Chris and Paul speaking at 7pm. Book sales and a signing will take place after the meeting. To book a place email bicarrington@nasuwt.net

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2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlists

2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlists

The shortlists have been announced for the 2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the oldest and most prestigious of all the UK’s children’s book awards.

There are eight books on each shortlist, two more than has been usual: a sign perhaps of the difficulty the judges had in making their final choice.

read more...
GUUS KUIJER TO RECEIVE THE ASTRID LINDGREN MEMORIAL AWARD 2012

The 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is to be awarded to the Dutch author Guus Kuijer.

read more...
FIRST BRITISH EXHIBITION OF CHINESE PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATION

In April, London hosts the first exhibitions in Britain of Chinese children’s and picture book illustration. The exhibitions feature eighty individual illustrations by China’s most celebrated children’s illustrators, and is organised by the Zhejiang Publishing Group, the Publishers’ Association of China, Propeller TV, and the Chinese Board on Books for Young People (CBBY); with the cooperation of the UK section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY UK).

read more...
NEW AWARD SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED

As we wait for the announcement of the shortlists for this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, two other interesting and unusual award shortlists have just been revealed.

read more...
Transfer for Once Upon A Wartime exhibition

The Once Upon A Wartime exhibition is now at IWM North Manchester, until 2 September 2012

Based on five war-based children’s novels, the exhibition explores the history of real life conflicts from 1914 to the present day through the eyes of fictional children.

Read Kate Agnew’s Books for Keeps review of the exhibition here.

read more...
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