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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

UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2018

UKLA logos

read more...
MITCH JOHNSON AND HIS EDITORS WIN 2018 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Mitch Johnson and M G Leonard

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HIP HOP ARTIST AND DEBUT POET KARL NOVA WINS CLIPPA 2018

Karl Nova at the CLiPPAPoet Karl Nova has been announced as the winner of CLiPPA 2018 (CLPE Poetry Award) for his debut collection, Rhythm and Poetry, published by Caboodle Books.

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McCaughrean and Smith winners 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest children’s book awards, are announced today, Monday 18thJune.

read more...
LOLLIES 2018 SHORTLIST THE YEAR’S FUNNIEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Lollies logoMichael Rosen has announced the shortlist for the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies). This is the third year of The Lollies, created by Scholastic UK, to celebrate the funniest children’s books.

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ZANIB MIAN WINS 2018 LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) has announced that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Zanib Mian for her book, The Muslims, (Sweet Apple Books).

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SHORTLIST FOR THE 2018 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The shortlist for the 2018 Klaus Flugge Prize has been revealed. Set up to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and a key figure in children’s picture books, this important new award, now in its third year, is for the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

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THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

Conflicts, Class and Youth Protest

Islamophobia, young people’s activism, the Syrian conflict, challenges to gendered occupations, the English class system and workers’ pay and conditions are just some of the subjects highlighted by the 8-strong shortlist for this year’s Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction.

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DEBUT AUTHORS AND THEIR EDITORS ON 2018 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2018 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.

BBA shortlist 2018

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CLiPPA 2018 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2018 shortlist for the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Established in 2003, the CLiPPA encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children and has done a huge amount to encourage the publishing of children’s poetry.

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