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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 Books)
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...

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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

LONGLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Members of YLG have selected 20 books for each list from no less than 254 nominations.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS 2019

Funny Women win the Lollies!

Lollies winners 2019

Elys Dolan, Emer Stamp and Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon have been named the winners of the 2019 Laugh Out Loud Awards, or Lollies.

read more...
HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

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FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

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SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

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COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
PATRICE LAWRENCE AND DARREN CHETTY TO JUDGE 2019 LITTLE REBELS AWARD

Little Rebels prize logoAward-winning YA author Patrice Lawrence and Books for Keeps contributor Darren Chetty have been named as judges of the 2019 Little Rebels Award. The Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s books for readers age 0-12 which promote social equality and social justice.

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SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

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NOMINATIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE & KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS 2019

Nominations have been published for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the country's oldest children’s book awards.

read more...
‘SHARE A STORY’ AT THE HEART OF WORLD BOOK DAY 2019

Lauren Child WBD coverSnap by Patrice Lawrence

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