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Books for Keeps 175 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 175 - March 2009

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by John Kelly is from Terry Deary’s new series Master Crook’s Crime Academy: Burglary for Beginners. Terry Deary is interviewed by Elizabeth Hammill. Thanks to Scholastic Children’s Books for their help with this March cover.

BfK No. 175 Articles

Editorial – March 2009

News and comment from the Editor.
Guantanamo: the agony and the courage of Prisoner No.256

James Watson pays tribute to a remarkable new novel.
Ten of the Best Stories set in Tudor times

Janet Fisher selects novels with a Tudor background.
Taking Tom from Page to Stage

David Wood discusses his adaptation of Tom's Midnight Garden.
A Question of Words

Sue Unstead investigates the thinking behind children's dictionaries.
Authorgraph No.175: Terry Deary

Terry Deary interviewed by Elizabeth Hammill.
I Wish I’d Written… Stop the Train

Elizabeth Laird chooses Geraldine McCaughrean's Stop the Train.
Good Reads: St Mary’s and St Peter’s Church of England Primary School

Reviews from pupils of St Mary's and St Peter's Church of England Primary School, Teddington.
Hal’s Reading Diary – March 2009

Roger Mills on Hal's reading progress.
Laureate Log – March 2009

Michael Rosen is concerned about threats to libraries.
BfK Briefing – March 2009

Awards * News * Events
Useful Organisations No.51: The Story Museum

The 'virtual' museum celebrating children's literature.
Classics in Short No.74: Johnny the Clockmaker

Brian Alderson on Edward Ardizzone's Johnny the Clockmaker.

Editor's Choice

Dogs
Emily Gravett
(Two Hoots)
5

Narrated in the first person, this witty celebration of dogs takes the form of a book of opposites featuring many different canine breeds. Thus the double page spread for ‘I love big dogs and small dogs’ is completely filled by a Great Dane that...

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New Talent

Knife
R J Anderson
(Orchard Books)
3

Eoin Colfer reinvigorated the world of faery with Artemis Fowl, the fairy with attitude and R J Anderson’s Knife is a heroine in the same irreverent and rebellious mould.

Chosen by the queen to be a hunter...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 175

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

Under 5s

  • My First Nursery Stories
    5

  • Dogs
    Emily Gravett
    5

  • Don't Read This Book!
    Jill Lewis
    5

  • The Tale of Two Mice
    Ruth Brown
    5

  • There are cats in this book
    Viviane Schwarz
    5

  • Rattle and Rap
    Susan Steggall
    4

  • Mr Pusskins, Best in Show
    Sam Lloyd
    4

  • Alphabet
    Matthew Van Fleet
    4

  • Little Goose Goes Out of Step
    Jean-Francois Dumont
    4

  • I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean
    Kevin Sherry
    3

  • The Story Blanket
    Ferida Wolff
    Harriet May Savitz
    3

  • Hen's Cake
    Malachy Doyle
    3

  • The Perfect Prince
    Paul Harrison
    3

  • Super Duck
    Jez Alborough
    3

  • Ballet Kitty: Ballet Class
    Bernette Ford
    3

Ages 5-8

  • My First Book of Garden Wildlife
    Mike Unwin
    5

  • The Tales of Beedle the Bard
    J K Rowling
    5

  • Singing to the Sun
    Vivian French
    5

  • 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World
    Melanie Walsh
    4

  • The Selfish Crocodile Book of Nursery Rhymes
    Faustin Charles
    4

  • Merlin's Magical Creatures
    Graham Howells
    4

  • That Pesky Rat
    Lauren Child
    4

  • The Church Mouse
    Graham Oakley
    4

  • My Friend Jamal
    Anna McQuinn
    4

  • The Bumper Book of Betsey Biggalow
    Malorie Blackman
    3

  • Dirty Bertie: Crackers!
    David Roberts
    3

  • In the Dark of the Night
    Paul Stewart
    3

  • Pink!
    Lynne Rickards
    3

  • Something Wickedly Weird: The Smugglers' Mine
    Chris Mould
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Ships: A pop-up book
    Robert Crowther
    5

  • Bambert's Book of Missing Stories
    Reinhardt Jung
    5

  • ABC 3D
    Marion Bataille
    5

  • A Song for Cambodia
    Michelle Lord
    4

  • Hate That Cat
    Sharon Creech
    4

  • Ghostscape
    Joe Layburn
    4

  • Faster, Further, Higher, Deeper
    Richard Brassey
    3

  • Pompeii
    Richard Platt
    3

  • Benjamin Zephaniah; Malorie Blackman
    Verna Wilkins
    3

  • I Belong to the Muslim Faith
    Katie Dicker
    Zohal Azizi
    3

  • The Magic Thief
    Sarah Prineas
    3

  • The Boy in the Dress
    David Walliams
    3

  • Beryl Goes Wild
    Jane Simmons
    3

  • Swap
    Malachy Doyle
    3

  • Tim the Tiny Horse at Large
    Harry Hill
    3

  • We Are All Born Free
    3

  • Toxic! Killer Cures and Other Poisonings
    Susie Hodge
    2

  • My Village
    Hansi
    2

Ages 10-14

  • The Trap
    John Smelcer
    5

  • Power: Ethical debates about resources and the environment; Food: Ethical debates about what we eat
    Kate Ravilious
    4

  • One Boy's War
    Lynn Huggins-Cooper
    4

  • Vikings
    Philip Wilkinson
    4

  • The Hunger Games
    Suzanne Collins
    4

  • Malice
    Chris Wooding
    4

  • Life, Interrupted
    Damian Kelleher
    4

  • Solace of the Road
    Siobhan Dowd
    4

  • The Sandfather
    Linda Newbery
    4

  • Knife
    R J Anderson
    3

  • Solitaire
    Bernard Ashley
    3

  • CHERUB: The General
    Robert Muchamore
    3

  • Spokes: Stories from the Romani World
    Janna Eliot
    3

  • Amazons! Women Warriors of the World
    Sally Pomme Clayton
    3

  • Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye
    Alison Goodman
    2

  • The Parliament of Blood
    Justin Richards
    2

Ages 14+

  • The Carbon Diaries 2015
    Saci Lloyd
    5

  • The Long Weekend
    Savita Kalhan
    5

  • Exposure
    Mal Peet
    4

  • Bedlam
    Ally Kennen
    4

  • The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. Vol II: The Kingdom on the Waves
    M T Anderson
    3

  • Gone
    Michael Grant
    3

  • The Traitor Game
    B R Collins
    3

  • Nick's Blues
    John Harvey
    3

  • When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism
    Serge Schmemann
    2

  • The Kiss of Death
    Marcus Sedgwick
    2

BfK News

JASBINDER BILAN WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH HER DEBUT NOVEL

Jasbinder Bilan

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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‘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.

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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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