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Books for Keeps 181 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 181 - March 2010
BfK 181 March 2010

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Brian Wildsmith’s The Hare and the Tortoise (© Brian Wildsmith 1966) published by Oxford University Press and re-issued in 2007 (978 0 19 272708 4, £5.99 pbk). Brian Wildsmith’s work is discussed by Joanna Carey in this issue. Thanks to Oxford University Press for their help with this March cover.

BfK No. 181 Articles

Editorial – March 2010

News and comment from the Editor.
The Children’s Books of the Decade

Rosemary Stones reflects on the first ten years of the new millennium.
Brian Wildsmith: A retrospective

Joanna Carey assesses his unique contribution.
Ten of the Best: Books that Introduce Children to Art

Martin Salisbury chooses his top ten.
Authorgraph No.181: Elizabeth Laird

Elizabeth Laird interviewed by Nicholas Tucker
A Time Like No Other

Peter Hollindale discusses A S Byatt's The Children's Book
BfK Briefing – March 2010

Event * Award
Useful Organisations No.52: Perform-a-Poem

A unique poetry performance website for primary school children.
Hal’s Reading Diary – March 2010

Roger Mills on the appeal of violence to children in their books.
I Wish I’d Written… Red Shift

Anthony McGowan chooses Alan Garner's Red Shift
Good Reads: Bishop Rawstorne C of E Language College, Lancashire

Reviews from pupils of Bishop Rawstorne C of E Language College.
Classics in Short No.80: The Eagle of the Ninth

Brian Alderson on Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth.

Editor's Choice

The General
Janet Charters
(Templar)
5

Not many generals can be seen wearing a CND badge but General Jodhpur, illustrated by Michael Foreman in 1961 when he was still an art student, is a general who disbands his army so that the soldiers can return home and make their country ‘the...

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New Talent

Quicksilver
Sam Osman
(Marion Lloyd Books)
3

Ever since Alfred Watkins coined the term ‘ley lines’ in the 1920s and proposed that the lines connecting ancient sites are in fact old routes followed in prehistoric times for religious or trade reasons, there have been those who have attributed...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 181

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

Under 5s

  • This is my Book
    Mick Inkpen
    5

  • Yummy
    Lucy Cousins
    5

  • One Smart Fish
    Chris Wormell
    4

  • Little Miss Muffet and other rhymes
    PatrickGeorge
    4

  • The Wide-Mouthed Frog
    Iain Smyth
    3

  • The Terrible Plop
    Ursula Dubosarsky
    3

  • Dennis Duckling ¦ Where is Poppy’s Panda?
    Paul Sambrooks
    3

  • Grandma Comes to Stay ¦ Deron Goes to Nursery School
    Ifeoma Onyefulu
    3

  • What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? ¦ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
    Mandy Ross
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Yucky Worms
    Vivian French
    5

  • The General
    Janet Charters
    5

  • Miko’s Magic Number
    Ruth Brown
    4

  • The King and the Seed
    Kes Gray
    4

  • Pea Boy and other stories from Iran
    4

  • Insect Detective
    Steve Voake
    4

  • Mum and Dad Glue
    Kes Gray
    3

  • Azad's Camel
    Erika Pál
    3

  • My First Book of Garden Bugs
    Mike Unwin
    3

  • Return to the Hundred Acre Wood
    David Benedictus
    2

Ages 8-10

  • The Man Who Lost His Head
    Claire Huchet Bishop
    5

  • The Wainscott Weasel
    Tor Seidler
    5

  • Umpteen Pockets: New and Collected Poems for Children
    Adrian Mitchell
    5

  • Cars: A pop-up book of automobiles
    Robert Crowther
    5

  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula
    4

  • Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ¦ Alice in Wonderland
    4

  • The Kites Are Flying!
    Michael Morpurgo
    4

  • Day by Day by Me
    Various Illustrators
    4

  • Remembering Green
    Lesley Beake
    3

  • The Great Hamster Massacre
    Katie Davies
    3

  • The Wickedest Witch
    Martin Howard
    3

  • Don Quixote
    Miguel De Cervantes
    3

  • Out of the Woods
    Lyn Gardner
    3

  • The Lightning Key
    Jon Berkeley
    3

  • Hamzat’s Journey: A Refugee Diary
    Anthony Robinson
    3

  • The Raven Mysteries, Book 2: Ghosts and Gadgets
    Marcus Sedgwick
    2

  • I Spy: The Constantinople Caper
    Graham Marks
    2

  • Lydia’s Tin Lid Drum
    Neale Osborne
    2

  • The Wild Things
    Dave Eggers
    1

Ages 10-14

  • The Battle of the Sun
    Jeanette Winterson
    5

  • Fortune Cookie
    Jean Ure
    4

  • Thief!
    John Pilkington
    4

  • Halo
    Zizou Corder
    4

  • Time Quake
    Linda Buckley-Archer
    4

  • The Lark and the Laurel
    Barbara Willard
    3

  • Salem Brownstone – All Along the Watchtowers
    John Harris Dunning
    3

  • Witch & Wizard
    James Patterson
    3

  • Hell’s Heroes
    Darren Shan
    3

  • Crocodile Tears
    Anthony Horowitz
    3

  • Quicksilver
    Sam Osman
    3

  • Leviathan
    Scott Westerfeld
    3

  • Energy Revolution: Climate change and our post-carbon future
    Joseph Lacey
    3

  • Esty’s Gold
    Mary Arrigan
    2

Ages 14+

  • Rich and Mad
    William Nicholson
    4

  • Sacred Scars
    Kathleen Duey
    4

  • Hunger
    Michael Grant
    4

  • Inside
    Julia Jarman
    3

  • Paradise Red
    K M Grant
    3

  • Daughter of Fire and Ice
    Marie-Louise Jensen
    3

  • We Were Young and at War
    Sarah Wallis
    Svetlana Palmer
    3

  • Evermore
    Alyson Noël
    1

Books About Children's Books

  • The Private Diaries of Alison Uttley
    1

  • Illustrated Children’s Books
    0

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.

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