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Books for Keeps 176 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 176 - May 2009

Cover Story

This issue’s cover illustration by Nick Price is from Pongwiffy, Back on Track by Kaye Umansky. Kaye Umansky is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare. Thanks to Bloomsbury for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 176 Articles

Editorial – May 2009

News and comment from the Editor.
Dickens and Nicholas Dane

Melvin Burgess on how Dickens inspired his new novel.
Eric Carle and his Hungry Caterpillar

Joanna Carey discusses his career with Eric Carle.
Digital Developments in Children’s Publishing

Caroline Horn reports on publishers’ response to the digital world.
Wandering Worth Encouraging

Robert Hull argues for a wider range of children’s dictionaries.
Authorgraph No.176: Kaye Umansky

Kaye Umansky interviewed by Julia Eccleshare
Hal’s Reading Diary - May 2009

Roger Mills describes Hal’s interest in creative writing.
Laureate Log - May 2009

Michael Rosen senses curriculum change.
BfK Briefing – May 2009

Awards * Letter to the Editor * Obituary
I Wish I’d Written… The Cartoonist

Sophie McKenzie chooses Betsy Byars’ The Cartoonist.
Good Reads: St Osmund’s C of E Middle School, Dorchester

Reviews from pupils of St Osmund’s C of E Middle School, Dorchester.
Classics in Short No.75: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Brian Alderson on Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Editor's Choice

Ausländer
Paul Dowswell
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

Although he lives in Poland, Peter is volksdeutscher (of German blood) and, with his blond hair and blue eyes, he looks like a perfect Aryan according to the criteria laid down by Nazi racial ideologues. When Peter’s parents are killed...

read more

New Talent

Small Mouse Big City
Simon Prescott
(Little Tiger Press)
4

In his debut picture book, illustrator Simon Prescott offers a witty contemporary take on Aesop’s tale of the town mouse and the country mouse. Country mouse leaves his peaceful rural home and takes the train to the city which takes his breath...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 176

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

Under 5s

  • Monkey Monkey Monkey
    Cathy MacLennan
    5

  • Little Chick
    Amy Hest
    5

  • Curious Clownfish
    Adrienne Kennaway
    Eric Maddern
    4

  • The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog
    Sue Eves
    4

  • Small Mouse Big City
    Simon Prescott
    4

  • Happy Birthday Chimp and Zee
    Laurence Anholt
    4

  • Dinosnore!
    John Bendall-Brunello
    4

  • Over in the Clover
    Jan Ormerod
    4

  • Elephant
    Petr Horácek
    4

  • The Baby Dragon-Tamer
    Jan Fearnley
    3

  • Milo Armadillo
    Jan Fearnley
    3

  • The Perfect Baby
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • The Littlest Dinosaur
    Michael Foreman
    3

  • WOW! said the Owl
    Tim Hopgood
    3

  • Time to Say I Love You
    Jane Kemp
    Clare Walters
    3

  • Tilly and Friends: Happy Hector
    Polly Dunbar
    3

Ages 5-8

  • P is for Poland
    Agnieszka Mrówczyńska
    4

  • Rotten Island
    William Steig
    4

  • Dandylion
    Lizzie Finlay
    4

  • I'm Dirty! ¦ I Stink!
    Kate McMullan
    4

  • Wildlife Garden
    Martyn Cox
    3

  • Jake the Good Bad Dog; Jake in Action
    Annette Butterworth
    3

  • The Snow Queen
    3

  • The Terrible Greedy Fossifoo
    Charles Fuge
    3

  • The Dragon Who Couldn't Do Sporty Things
    Anni Axworthy
    3

  • Matty in a Mess!
    Miriam Moss
    3

Ages 8-10

  • What Mr Darwin Saw
    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    5

  • Hot Like Fire and Other Poems
    Valerie Bloom
    5

  • Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers
    Philip Caveney
    4

  • Waggit's Tale
    Peter Howe
    4

  • Beyond: A Solar System Voyage
    Michael Benson
    3

  • Why is Muhammad important to Muslims?; How and why do Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Divali?
    Jean Mead
    3

  • An Awfully Beastly Business: Bang Goes a Troll
    The Beastly Boys
    3

  • Creaky Castle: Tom and the Siege
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Tales from the Keep: The Ferret Princess
    Joan Lennon
    3

  • Zal and Zara and the Great Race of Azamed
    Kit Downes
    2

  • Peter Pan
    Robert Sabuda
    1

Ages 10-14

  • My Secret War Diary, by Flossie Albright
    Marcia Williams
    5

  • Falling
    Sharon Dogar
    5

  • Rowan the Strange
    Julie Hearn
    5

  • Chains
    Laurie Halse Anderson
    5

  • Operation Storm City
    Joshua Mowll
    5

  • Ausländer
    Paul Dowswell
    5

  • Fen Runners
    John Gordon
    5

  • Twister
    Chris Ryan
    4

  • Season of Secrets
    Sally Nicholls
    4

  • The Anarchist's Angel
    Gareth Thompson
    4

  • Torn Pages
    Sally Grindley
    4

  • The Qur'an and Islam; The Ramayana and other Hindu texts
    Anita Ganeri
    3

  • Charles Dickens; Poets of the First World War; William Shakespeare
    Nicola Barber
    Patrick Lee-Browne
    3

  • Frozen in Time
    Ali Sparkes
    3

  • The 13 Treasures
    Michelle Harrison
    3

  • Dream Land
    Lily Hyde
    3

  • White Heat
    K M Grant
    3

  • Blade: Breaking Free
    Tim Bowler
    3

  • Don't Call Us; Liar
    Pat Thomson
    3

  • The Lying Carpet
    David Lucas
    3

  • My Secret Diary
    Jacqueline Wilson
    2

Ages 14+

  • Forbidden Island
    Malcolm Rose
    5

  • The Demon's Lexicon
    Sarah Rees Brennan
    4

  • Just Jealous
    Anne Cassidy
    4

  • Crossing the Line
    Gillian Philip
    4

  • The Ant Colony
    Jenny Valentine
    4

  • Winter Song
    Jean-Claude Mourlevat
    3

  • Scatterheart
    Lili Wilkinson
    3

  • Furnace: Lockdown
    Alexander Gordon Smith
    3

  • The One and Only
    Sophie McKenzie
    3

  • The Society of S
    Susan Hubbard
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • 101 Ways to get your Child to Read
    Patience Thomson
    2

BfK News

A Passion for Picture books

‘Although interest in the art of the picture book seems to have grown greatly in recent years, study of the field has remained polarised in its nature and perceptions,’ claim the authors of an important new book, Children’s Picturebooks: The art of visual storytelling.

Books for Keeps invited co-writers Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles to explain their aim to bring together ideas from the world of literature and education with ideas from the field of art and design.

read more...
BLOOD RED ROAD WINS 2011 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

For the second year in succession, a debut novel has won the Costa Children’s Book Award. The 2011 prize went to Jason Wallace for his novel Out of Shadows; this year’s prize has gone to Moira Young for her book Blood Red Road.

Set in a dystopian future world, Blood Red Road tells the story of 18-year-old Saba, a tough young woman who embarks on an epic quest to rescue her twin brother when he is kidnapped by four mysterious horsemen.

read more...
Behind the Bookshelf

A new way of bringing authors into the classroom – and a special competition for Books for Keeps readers.

read more...
2011 Educational Writers’ Award Winner Announced

The winner of the 2011 Educational Writers’ Award is Moon: Apollo 11 and Beyond…The Ultimate Guide to Our Nearest Neighbour by Stewart Ross.

The Educational Writers’ Award was established in 2008 by ALCS and The Society of Authors to celebrate educational writing that inspires creativity and encourages students to read widely and build up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications.

read more...
Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize winner announced

The winner of the 2011 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize is How the World Works, an interactive opus that uses illustrations, pop ups, flaps and more to make children think about the impact of human actions on our environment, while encouraging respect for the natural world.

read more...
Muslim Writers Awards 2011

Na'ima B Robert's Far from Home (Frances Lincoln) has won the Published Children's Book category of the Muslim Writers Awards.

The Awards were held at the Globe Theatre on Tuesday 22nd November and acknowledged dramatists and young journalists as well as authors.

read more...
2011 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize

After a two year gap when, due to funding issues it was not awarded, The Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2011 will be awarded on Thursday 1st December, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.

The prize celebrates the books that best communicate science to young people aged up to 14 and there are six books on the shortlist. They are:

The Icky Sticky Blood and Snot Book by Steve Alton and Nick Sharratt (Bodley Head)

read more...
Liz Pichon and Peter Bently: Roald Dahl Funny Prize Winners

Winners Roald Dahl Prize 2011 2Tuesday 8th November saw the fourth annual Roald Dahl Funny Prize ceremony, which again took place at the Unicorn Theatre. This year Chair, and instigator of the prize, Michael Rosen was joined on the judging panel by author and broadcaster Grace Dent, illustrator Tony Ross, Horrid Henry creator Francesca Simon and journalist/scriptwriter Danny Wallace.

read more...
PIRATE CATS AND DOODLING SCHOOLBOY WIN THE 2011 ROALD DAHL FUNNY BOOK PRIZE

Roald Dahl Winners 2011Peter Bently and Liz Pichon have been announced as winners of the 2011 Roald Dahl Funny Book Prize. 

read more...
FIRST SLA INFORMATION BOOK AWARD: WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Adrian Dingle’s book How to make a Universe with 92 Ingredients (Scholastic) and The Life and Times of William Shakespeare by Kirsten McDermott and Ari Berk (Templar) were announced winners of the first SLA Information Book Award at a celebration event in London last night, Wednesday 2nd November.

read more...
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