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Books for Keeps 178 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 178 - September 2009

Cover Story

This issue’s cover illustration by Tony Ross is from Big Bad Bun by Jeanne Willis. Tony Ross writes about his illustration here. Thanks to Andersen Press for their help with this September cover.

BfK No. 178 Articles

Editorial – September 2009

News and comment from the Editor.

Morris Gleitzman: writing about the Holocaust for children

Julia Eccleshare interviews Morris Gleitzman about his new novel, Then.

Windows into Illustration: Tony Ross

Tony Ross explains how he went about illustrating Big Bad Bun.

Why Don’t All Schools Have a Literary Events Co-ordinator? Or Lucy Shepherd’s Lonely Job Club Stand

Lucy Shepherd puts the case.

Ten of the Best Books for Children about France

Rosemary Stones chooses ten outstanding titles.

Authorgraph No.178: Andy Stanton

Andy Stanton interviewed by Clive Barnes.

BfK Briefing – September 2009

News * Awards * Letter to the Editor * Obituary

Hal’s Reading Diary – September 2009

Roger Mills finds an exciting plot helps.

I Wish I’d Written… Eloise

Cressida Cowell chooses Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight’s Eloise.

Good Reads: High School for Girls, Gloucester

Reviews from pupils of The High School for Girls, Gloucester.

Classics in Short No.77: The Thirteen Clocks and The Wonderful O

Brian Alderson on James Thurber’s The Thirteen Clocks and The Wonderful O.

Editor's Choice

One True Bear

Ted Dewan
(Orchard)
5

Reporting for duty didn’t do Democrat Presidential candidate John Kerry much good but teddy bear Darcy Brewster has better luck when he volunteers for a dangerous mission – to become the One True Bear of a troubled little boy, Damian, who has...

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New Talent

How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant

Elen Caldecott
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
3

When Kirsty’s grandad is dying, he asks her to look after his allotment and she promises she will. Easier said than done however, as the allotment is rented from the council. Kirsty needs help to persuade the council’s Mr Thomas to allow her to...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 178

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

Under 5s

  • The Littlest Dinosaur’s Big Adventure

    Michael Foreman
    5
  • Duck

    Janet H Holmes
    4
  • Elmer’s Special Day

    David McKee
    4
  • Oliver Who Was Small But Mighty

    Mara Bergman
    4
  • Mimi and Moochie Go Shopping

    Margaret Chamberlain
    4
  • Crocodiles are the Best Animals of All!

    Sean Taylor
    4
  • How High is the Sky?

    Anna Milbourne
    4
  • Captain Small Pig

    Martin Waddell
    3
  • Go Hare and Tortoise Go! ¦ Run Little Chicken Run!

    Elena Pasquali
    2

Ages 5-8

  • The Princess' Blankets

    Carol Ann Duffy
    5
  • Millie's Marvellous Hat

    Satoshi Kitamura
    5
  • It's a Secret

    John Burningham
    5
  • One True Bear

    Ted Dewan
    5
  • Big Noisy Book of Dinosaurs

    5
  • My First Nursery Book

    Franciszka Themerson
    4
  • Handsome Hog

    Mwenye Hadithi
    4
  • Inventions: Pop-up models from the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

    Leonardo da Vinci
    4
  • Doctor Doctor

    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    4
  • Brother William's Year: A Monk at Westminster Abbey

    Jan Pancheri
    4
  • Victoria Goes to Brazil

    Maria De Fatima Campos
    4
  • B is for Bangladesh

    Urmi Rahman
    3
  • Jake - a Friend Indeed ¦ Jake in Danger

    Annette Butterworth
    3
  • Cat Tales - Shop Cat

    Linda Newbery
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Planet Patrol

    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    5
  • The Ogress and the Snake and other stories from Somalia

    4
  • Mathmagicians

    Johnny Ball
    4
  • Explaining Down’s Syndrome

    Angela Royston
    4
  • Who Am I? The Family Tree Explorer

    Anthony Adolph
    4
  • The Slant Book

    Peter Newell
    3
  • Granny Ting Ting ¦ Ever Clever Eva ¦ Bamba Beach

    Patrice Lawrence
    3
  • On the March: Bridgewood High FC

    Dave Spurdens
    3
  • Out of Control, Ms Wiz

    Terence Blacker
    3
  • The Pirates’ Treasure

    Emily Bearn
    3
  • The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis

    Natasha Narayan
    3
  • Member of Parliament

    Rebecca Hunter
    3
  • How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant

    Elen Caldecott
    3
  • Shadow Goblins

    David Melling
    2

Ages 10-14

  • The Eyeball Collector

    F E Higgins
    5
  • The Silver Blade

    Sally Gardner
    5
  • The Witching Hour

    Elizabeth Laird
    5
  • Breathing Underwater

    Julia Green
    4
  • Revolver

    Marcus Sedgwick
    4
  • Pig City

    Louis Sachar
    4
  • Bang, Bang, You’re Dead!

    Narinder Dhami
    4
  • Threads

    Sophia Bennett
    4
  • Wishing for Tomorrow

    Hilary McKay
    4
  • Wolf Cry

    Julia Golding
    4
  • Heriot

    Margaret Mahy
    4
  • The Time Book

    Martin Jenkins
    4
  • Animals up Close

    Igor Siwanowicz
    4
  • Revenge!

    John Pilkington
    3
  • The Missing, Book One: Found

    Margaret Peterson Haddix
    3
  • The Doomsday Machine

    Catherine Webb
    3
  • The Agency: A Spy in the House

    Y S Lee
    3
  • Pocket Timeline of Islamic Civilizations

    Nicholas Badcott
    3
  • Payback

    Rosemary Hayes
    2
  • Out of the Blue

    Val Rutt
    2
  • Beautiful Dead, Book 1: Jonas

    Eden Maguire
    2
  • Climate Change ¦ Climate Change

    Richard Spilsbury
    2

Ages 14+

  • Lifegame

    Alison Allen-Gray
    5
  • City of Ghosts

    Bali Rai
    5
  • Tender Morsels

    Margo Lanagan
    5
  • Slavery: real people and their stories of enslavement

    Reg Grant
    5
  • Skim

    Mariko Tamaki
    4
  • Saving Rafael

    Leslie Wilson
    4
  • Mine

    Joanna Kenrick
    3
  • Sprout

    Dale Peck
    3
  • Thirteen Reasons Why

    Jay Asher
    2
  • I Am Not a Serial Killer

    Dan Wells
    1

Books About Children's Books

  • Book Power: Literacy through Literature, Year 1

    Jane Bunting
    5
  • Juicy Writing: inspiration and techniques for young writers

    Brigid Lowry
    4
  • Enchanted Hunters: the power of stories in childhood

    Maria Tatar
    2

BfK News

THE FRANCES LINCOLN DIVERSE VOICES CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2013

Tariq Mehmood has won the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award 2013 for You’re Not Proper. The announcement was made on 23rd May 2013 by John Nicoll, founder of the award, at Seven Stories - National Centre for Children’s Books.

read more...
ROYAL SOCIETY YOUNG PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2013 SHORTLIST

The Royal Society has announced the shortlist for their 2013 Young People’s Book Prize, naming the six books the judges consider best communicate science to young people.

Professor John Goodby FRS, Chair of the judges described the shortlist as eclectic, but enthralling.

The six books shortlisted by the judges are:

Build the Human Body by Richard Walker (Templar Publishing)

In the judges’ words: ‘A hands on, fun kit to help learn about the human body, accompanied by a well-illustrated, concise, clear book.’

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DANIEL MORDEN WINS 2013 TIR NA N-OG ENGLISH AWARD

The Welsh Books Council has announced Daniel Morden as winner of the 2013 Tir na n-Og English Award for his collection of stories Tree of Leaf and Flame (Pont Books).

Morden’s first book, Weird Tales from the  Storyteller, was shortlisted for the Tir
na n-Og English-language award in 2004 and he won the award in 2007 for Dark Tales from the Woods.

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SARAH GARLAND WINS INAUGURAL LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Sarah Garland has won the first Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Azzi in Between, which tells the story of a family forced to fell their homeland and settle in a strange and unfamiliar country. The book is based on the author’s own experience of working among refugee families and is endorsed by Amnesty International.

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2013 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD: THE SHORTLIST

‘Seven outstanding debuts, eight really interesting authors, doing really interesting things’

The shortlist for the 2013 Branford Boase Award has been announced. 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...
2013 CLPE Poetry Award: Winner

CLPE AwardThe 2013 CLPE Poetry Award has been won by George Szirtes for  In the Land of the Giants, illustrated by Helen Szirtes (Salt Publishing). Szirtes was presented with the award by last year’s winner Rachel Rooney at a ceremony at CLPE on the evening of Tuesday 30 April.

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THE 2013 CLPE POETRY AWARD SHORTLIST

Weight of WaterFour outstanding poetry books are shortlisted for the 2013 CLPE Poetry Award. Established in 2003, the annual Poetry Award encourages and celebrates outstanding new children’s poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

The four books on the shortlist are:

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2013 ENGLISH 4 – 11 PICTURE BOOK AWARDS: THE WINNERS

The winners of the 2013 English 4 – 11 Picture Book Awards have been announced. Established in 1995, the awards are presented annually to the best picture books of the previous year, in four categories, Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years, and Non-Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years.

From a 15 strong shortlist, the winners are:

Fiction 4 – 7 years

Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis illustrated by Tony Ross (Andersen Press)

Fiction 7 – 11 years

read more...
IBBY Announces the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award have been announced.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books. Awarded every other year by IBBY, the award recognizes lifelong achievement and is given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.

For the 2014 Awards 29 authors and 31 illustrators have been nominated from 34 countries. They are:

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New Little Rebels Children’s Book Award: Shortlist Announced

The shortlist has been announced for The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award, a new award for radical children’s fiction.

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award recognises fiction for ages 0-12 which promotes or celebrates social justice and equality. It is awarded by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and administered by Letterbox Library. Wendy Cooling, Bookstart co-founder & editor and author Elizabeth Laird are both judges.

The four books on the inaugural shortlist are:

read more...
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