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Books for Keeps 179 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 179 - November 2009

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Robert Ingpen. Robert Ingpen is interviewed by Elizabeth Hammill. Thanks to Templar Publishing for their help with this November cover.

BfK No. 179 Articles

Editorial – November 2009

News and comment from the Editor.
Christmas Books

Rosemary Stones chooses books with a Christmas theme.
Ten of the Best Audio Books on CD for Children

Julia Eccleshare chooses ten outstanding titles.
Developing Teachers’ Knowledge of Children’s Literature: Teachers as Readers, Phase II

Fiona M Collins, Teresa
Cremin, Marilyn Mottram, Sacha Powell and Kimberly Safford report on the second part of the UKRA project.
A Conversation about Poetry: Twenty-two Signal Years

Brian Alderson on the Signal Poetry Award.
Authorgraph No.179: Robert Ingpen

Robert Ingpen interviewed by Elizabeth Hammill
BfK Briefing - November 2009

Letter to the Editor * News * Obituaries* Awards * Event
Hal’s Reading Diary – November 2009

Roger Mills reflects on the importance of punctuation.
I Wish I’d Written… ‘Overheard on a Saltmarsh’

Hilary McKay chooses Harold Monro’s ‘Overheard on a Saltmarsh’.
Good Reads: St Martin’s Garden Primary School, Bath

Reviews from pupils of St Martin’s Garden Primary School, Bath.
Classics in Short No.78: Nonsense Songs and Stories and Nonsense Botany and Nonsense Alphabets

Brian Alderson on Edward Lear’s Nonsense Songs and Stories and Nonsense Botany and Nonsense Alphabets.

Editor's Choice

Who Wants to be a Poodle? I Don’t!
Lauren Child
(Puffin)
5

The importance of communication and being understood could not be better expressed than in this cautionary tale of pampered poodle, Trixie Twinkle Toes Trot-a-lot Delight and her fashion plate owner, Verity Brulée. Mademoiselle Brulée, who lives...

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New Talent

Call Me Gorgeous!
Giles Milton
(Boxer Books)
4

Each double page spread in this handsomely produced landscape picture book depicts part of a mysterious animal. What could it be? The bold, expressive artwork in collage and coloured pencil conveys texture and a sense that beneath each element –...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 179

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

Under 5s

  • Don’t lose Pigley, Wibbly Pig!
    Mick Inkpen
    5

  • Olly and Me 123
    Shirley Hughes
    5

  • Not Last Night but the Night Before
    Colin McNaughton
    5

  • Yummy: My Favourite Nursery Stories
    Lucy Cousins
    5

  • Oliver Who Travelled Far and Wide
    Mara Bergman
    4

  • Little Miss Muffet Counts to Ten
    Emma Chichester Clark
    4

  • Finn Throws a Fit!
    David Elliott
    4

  • Call Me Gorgeous!
    Giles Milton
    4

  • Peas!
    Andy Cullen
    4

  • Hurry Up and Slow Down
    Layn Marlow
    3

  • When Dragons are Dreaming
    James Mayhew
    3

Ages 5-8

  • The Troll
    Julia Donaldson
    5

  • Oddly
    Joyce Dunbar
    5

  • Crazy Hair
    Neil Gaiman
    5

  • Woolly Mammoth
    Mick Manning
    5

  • Who Wants to be a Poodle? I Don’t!
    Lauren Child
    5

  • The Penguin who Wanted to Find Out
    Jill Tomlinson
    5

  • Princess Smartypants Breaks the Rules!
    Babette Cole
    4

  • My Friend Amy
    Anna McQuinn
    4

  • Remembering…
    Dianne Leutner
    4

  • Ramadan Moon
    Na'ima B Robert
    4

  • Daddy Lost His Head
    3

  • Two-Minute Animal Stories
    3

  • The Knight of Silk and Steel : The Knight of Spurs and Spirits
    Terry Deary
    3

  • The David Beckham Academy - Twin Trouble : The David Beckham Academy - Le Football
    Barry Hutchison
    3

  • The Eight-Year Old Legend Book
    Isabel Wyatt
    3

  • The Storyteller's Secrets
    Tony Mitton
    3

  • Alphab'art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings
    Anne Guéry
    3

  • Would You Want to Live Here? : A Roman Soldier's Handbook
    Alison Hawes
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Roman Diary
    Richard Platt
    5

  • The Ancient Romans: Their Lives and Their World
    Paul Roberts
    5

  • Bird
    Zetta Elliott
    4

  • Off By Heart: Poems to learn and love
    4

  • Quentin Blake's The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor ; One Thousand and One Nights
    4

  • Michael Rosen's A to Z: The Best Children's Poetry from Agard to Zephaniah
    4

  • The Thornthwaite Inheritance
    Gareth P Jones
    4

  • Hetty Feather
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • A Child's Garden
    Michael Foreman
    3

  • Planetwatch
    Martyn Bramwell
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Wheels of War
    Sally Prue
    5

  • No Way to Go
    Bernard Ashley
    5

  • Al Capone Shines My Shoes
    Gennifer Choldenko
    5

  • The Rabbit Problem
    Emily Gravett
    4

  • The Great Death
    John Smelcer
    4

  • Grass
    Catherine MacPhail
    4

  • Renegade
    Alan Gibbons
    4

  • The Midnight Charter
    David Whitley
    4

  • The Spook's Sacrifice
    Joseph Delaney
    4

  • Toby and the Secrets of the Tree
    Timothée De Fombelle
    4

  • The Keepers' Daughter
    Gill Arbuthnott
    4

  • No Added Sugar: growing up with type 1 diabetes
    Fibi Ward
    4

  • Faerie Heart
    Livi Michael
    3

  • Boom!
    Mark Haddon
    3

  • Jupiter Amidships
    S I Martin
    3

  • Angel Cake
    Cathy Cassidy
    3

  • The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43
    Harriet Goodwin
    3

  • Devil's Rock
    Chris Speyer
    3

  • The Undrowned Child
    Michelle Lovric
    3

  • Dark Fire
    Chris D'Lacey
    3

  • Brilliant Bugs
    Sally Tagholm
    3

  • The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible
    Peter Atkinson
    3

  • Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins
    John Ayto
    3

  • Prophecy of the Sisters
    Michelle Zink
    2

  • Pimpernelles, Book 1: The Pale Assassin
    Patricia Elliott
    2

  • Destroying the Oceans
    Sarah Levete
    2

  • The Plague
    Joanne Dahme
    1

Ages 14+

  • The Dead House
    Anne Cassidy
    5

  • A Trick of the Dark
    B R Collins
    4

  • Ganglands: Brazil
    Ross Kemp
    3

  • Bad Company
    Mike Walker
    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)

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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.

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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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