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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

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.’

read more...
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.

read more...
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.

read more...
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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