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Books for Keeps 170 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 170 - May 2008

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Cosmic. Frank Cottrell Boyce is interviewed by George Hunt. Thanks to Macmillan Children’s Books for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 170 Articles

Editorial – May 2008

News and comment from the Editor.
Libraries for Living: the KidsLibs Trust Kenya

Beverley Naidoo describes how recent events have affected community libraries.

Laureate Log - May 2008

Michael Rosen reports on his laureateship.
Reading in the Middle Years (9-11): Including all children

Kimberly Safford stresses the importance of inclusion.
Windows into Illustration: Neal Layton

Neal Layton explains his approach to Emily Brown and the THING.
The Branford Boase Award

Julia Eccleshare discusses its impact.
Authorgraph No.170: Frank Cottrell Boyce

Frank Cottrell Boyce interviewed by George Hunt.
I Wish I’d Written... The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Graham Marks chooses Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
Hal’s Reading Diary - May 2008

Roger Mills on how Hal's frustration can get in his way.
Letter to the Editor - May 2008

Theresa Heine writes about Ally Kennen's Berserk.
Classics in Short No.69: A Picture History of Britain

Brian Alderson on Clarke Hutton's A Picture History of Britain.

Editor's Choice

The Island
Armin Greder
(Allen & Unwin)
5

First published in Germany in 2002, this large format picture book is a powerful fable for our times. A man is washed up on a beach and his arrival provokes fear in the people that find him because ‘he wasn’t like them’. Grudgingly they allow him...

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New Talent

Evil Weasel
Hannah Shaw
(Jonathan Cape)
4

Small children love a thoroughly bad character and Evil Weasel is a rich and powerful show-off, a bully and a sneak who plays mean tricks on everyone. But when no one comes to his party, Weasel feels let down: after all it ‘isn’t much fun when...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 170

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

Under 5s

  • Mammoth Pie
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • The Little Rabbit Who Liked to Say MOO
    Jonathan Allen
    5

  • Molly and the Night Monster
    Chris Wormell
    4

  • Lucy Goosey
    Margaret Wild
    4

  • How Big Is the World?
    Britta Teckentrup
    4

  • A Hole in the Road
    Jakki Wood
    4

  • Fleabag
    Helen Stephens
    4

  • Evil Weasel
    Hannah Shaw
    4

  • The Three Wishes
    David Melling
    3

  • Ten on a Train
    John O'Leary
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Rumblewick Letters, The: My Unwilling Witch!
    Hiawyn Oram
    4

  • The Reluctant Dragon
    Kenneth Grahame
    4

  • A Mummy for Owen
    Marion Dane Bauer
    4

  • The Moon in Swampland
    4

  • Don't Be Horrid, Henry!
    Francesca Simon
    4

  • Catch that Crocodile!
    Anushka Ravishankar
    4

  • Big Ben
    Rachel Anderson
    4

  • Ape
    Martin Jenkins
    4

  • Anna Hibiscus
    Atinuke
    4

  • Elephant's Story
    Harriet Blackford
    3

  • Best Dog Bonnie
    Bel Mooney
    3

  • Boys Are Best!
    Manuela Olten
    2

  • Growing Green: A young person's guide to taking care of the planet
    Christina Goodings
    1

  • The Beeman
    Laurie Krebs
    1

Ages 8-10

  • Dinomummy
    Dr Phillip Lars Manning
    5

  • What's Eating You? Parasites - the Inside Story
    Nicola Davies
    4

  • Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister
    Liz Kessler
    4

  • The Oxford Book of Bible Stories
    Berlie Doherty
    4

  • The Island that Moved
    Meredith Hooper
    4

  • Mr Gum and the Power Crystals
    Andy Stanton
    3

  • The Dragon of Krakow and other Polish Stories; A Fistful of Pearls and other tales from Iraq
    Richard Monte
    3

  • The Cursed Sword
    Rosalind Kerven
    3

  • The Urban Turbans
    Dahlian Kirby
    2

  • The Other Book
    Philip Womack
    2

  • The Curious Boy's Book of Adventure
    Sam Martin
    2

Ages 10-14

  • The Master of the Fallen Chairs
    Henry Porter
    5

  • Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
    Kirsten Miller
    5

  • The Island
    Armin Greder
    5

  • The Arrival
    Shaun Tan
    5

  • Airman
    Eoin Colfer
    5

  • Ways to Live Forever
    Sally Nicholls
    4

  • Space Encyclopedia
    Caroline Bingham
    4

  • The Prison Runner
    Deborah Ellis
    4

  • The Nostradamus Prophecy
    Theresa Breslin
    4

  • The Game
    Diana Wynne Jones
    4

  • Dragonfly
    Julia Golding
    4

  • Chicken Dance
    Jacques Couvillon
    4

  • The Book of a Thousand Days
    Shannon Hale
    4

  • Space Cowboy
    Justin Stanchfield
    3

  • Hox
    Annemarie Allan
    3

  • The Anglo-Saxons in Britain; The Celts in Britain
    Robert Hull
    3

  • The Case of the Limehouse Laundry
    Anthony Read
    3

  • The Fire of Ares
    Michael Ford
    2

  • Eye of the Moon
    Dianne Hofmeyr
    2

  • Tom Fletcher and the Angel of Death
    Sarah Matthias
    1

  • The Arab-Israeli Conflict
    Cath Senker
    1

Ages 14+

  • Extras
    Scott Westerfeld
    5

  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
    Sherman Alexie
    5

  • Shakespeare's Apprentice
    Veronica Bennett
    4

  • Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams
    Rosie Rushton
    4

  • Newes from the Dead
    Mary Hooper
    4

  • Bog Child
    Siobhan Dowd
    4

  • Blade: Playing Dead
    Tim Bowler
    4

  • Black Mail
    Thomas Feibel
    4

  • The Kissing Club
    Julia Clarke
    3

  • Slave Harvest
    Andrew Butcher
    2

  • Eclipse
    Stephenie Meyer
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • The Ultimate First Book Guide
    5

  • A Child's History of England
    Charles Dickens
    3

BfK News

THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

Little Rebels prize logoThe shortlist for the 2019 Little Rebels Award has been announced. Seven books have made the list with war and conflict recurring themes.

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SHORTLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Selected by volunteer Youth Librarians from longlists of 20 books per medal, there are eight on each shortlist.

Alongside previously shortlisted authors and illustrators, there are newcomers on each shortlist, and as the poetry boom for young readers continues, three verse novels make the Carnegie shortlist by US authors Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds.

The 2019 shortlists are as follows:

read more...
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Raúf and The Colours of History by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Marc-Etienne Peintre, have been revealed as the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award winners.

read more...
LONGLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Members of YLG have selected 20 books for each list from no less than 254 nominations.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS 2019

Funny Women win the Lollies!

Lollies winners 2019

Elys Dolan, Emer Stamp and Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon have been named the winners of the 2019 Laugh Out Loud Awards, or Lollies.

read more...
HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

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FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

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SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

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COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

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