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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

Winner announced for CLiPPA 2017 (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award)

CLiPPA winner Kate WakelingKate Wakeling has won the CLiPPA 2017 for her first collection for children, Moon Juice, illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa, published by The Emma Press.

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M.G. LEONARD WINS 2017 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

M.G. LeonardM.G.

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UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2017

UKLA Book Awards logoThe winners of the 2017 UKLA Book Awards have been announced. The awards are the only ones to be judged entirely by teachers.

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ADA TWIST, SCIENTIST AND WINNER OF THE LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Little Rebels logo 2017The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) has announced that the winners of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award are Andrea Beaty and David Roberts for their book, Ada Twist, Scientist (Abrams & Chronicle Books).

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RUTA SEPETYS AND LANE SMITH NAMED WINNERS IN CARNEGIE GREENAWAY ANNIVERSARY YEAR

The winners of the 2017 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are announced today, Monday 19 June. In its 80th year, Ruta Sepetys was named winner of the Carnegie Medal for her book Salt to the Sea, while Lane Smith was awarded the 60th Kate Greenaway Medal for his picture book There is a Tribe of Kids.

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HAPPY EMPATHY DAY, 13 JUNE

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CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2017

Children's Book Award logoMichael Morpurgo

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LAUREN CHILD ANNOUNCED AS 10th WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

Lauren Child, artist and author and illustrator of the award-winning Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean picture books and Ruby Redfort novels, is the 10th Waterstones Children’s Laureate.

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SCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2017 SHORTLIST

Lollies 2017 logoSCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2017 SHORTLIST: FUNNIEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

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UK ENTRANTS FOR BIB, THE BIENNIAL OF ILLUSTRATIONS BRATISLAVA 2107 ANNOUNCED

The International Centre for the Picture Book in Society based at Worcester University and IBBY UK (International Board of Books for Young People) are delighted to announce a collaboration to select UK illustrators for the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) 2017.

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