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Books for Keeps 183 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 183 - July 2010
BfK 183 July 2010

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by Richard Jones is from Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid, the first in ‘The Kane Chronicles’ series. Rick Riordan is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare (see Authorgraph). Thanks to Puffin Books for their help with this July cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 183 July 2010.

BfK No. 183 Articles

Editorial – July 2010

News and comment from the Editor.
Mary Hoffman - Featured Author, August 2010

Bloomsbury launch Troubadour in paperback
Rhyme with Reason: Why Nursery Rhymes Matter

Caroline Sanderson discusses their importance.
Ten of the Best Nursery Rhymes

Rosemary Stones chooses her top ten titles.
BfK Basics: Helping your child enjoy books and reading

Jake Hope explains what libraries offer the very young.
25 years of Journey to Jo’burg

Beverley Naidoo on the publishing history of a now classic title.
Windows into Illustration: Leigh Hodgkinson

Leigh Hodgkinson on how she went about illustrating Scrummy!
Authorgraph No.183: Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare.
BfK Briefing – July 2010

Awards * News * Events
Hal’s Reading Diary - July 2010

Roger Mills on the appeal of war stories to boy readers.
I wish I’d written… The Secret Garden

Cathy Hopkins chooses Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.
Good Reads: Fernwood School, Nottingham

Reviews from pupils of Fernwood School, Nottingham.
Classics in Short No.82: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Brian Alderson on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Editor's Choice

Me and You
Anthony Browne
(Doubleday Children's Books)
5

Reminiscent of John Burningham’s 1977 Come away from the water, Shirley in which the world inhabited by her cautious and unimaginative parents in their deckchairs on the beach contrasts with the adventurous world of their...

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New Talent

Tall Story
Candy Gourlay
(David Fickling Books)
4

Tall Story is told in turn by Londoner Andi who is a mean basketball player despite her short stature and her 16-year-old big brother Bernardo who lives in the Philippines. The two don’t know each other because it has taken years...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 183

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

Under 5s

  • Angelica Sprocket’s Pockets
    Quentin Blake
    5

  • The Sleep Sheep
    Anna McQuinn
    5

  • Dog Loves Books
    Louise Yates
    5

  • It’s a Dog’s Life
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • Bedtime
    Maureen Roffey
    4

  • Piglet’s Picnic: A Story about Food and Counting
    Jessica Souhami
    4

  • Blue Chameleon
    Emily Gravett
    4

  • I’m not Sleepy!
    Jonathan Allen
    4

  • My Green Day
    Melanie Walsh
    4

  • Caterpillar Dreams
    Jeanne Willis
    3

  • Bugs in a Blanket
    Beatrice Alemagna
    3

  • Errol and his Extraordinary Nose
    David Conway
    3

  • The Ugly Duckling
    Sebastien Braun
    3

  • That’s Not Funny!
    Jeanne Willis
    3

  • My Village: Rhymes from around the World
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Me and You
    Anthony Browne
    5

  • The Nanny Goat’s Kid
    Jeanne Willis
    4

  • Every Dog
    William Mayne
    4

  • Over the Hills and Far Away: Stories of Dwarfs, Fairies, Gnomes and Elves from Around Europe
    4

  • Our Baby Inside!
    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    4

  • Denver
    David McKee
    3

  • My Dads
    Kelly Bennett
    3

  • The Sorely Trying Day
    Russell Hoban
    3

  • Morris MacMillipede
    Mick Fitzmaurice
    3

  • Hooey Higgins and the Shark
    Steve Voake
    3

  • The Girl Who Married a Ghost and other tales from Nigeria
    Ifeoma Onyefulu
    3

  • Oi, Caveboy!
    Alan MacDonald
    3

  • Let’s Read a Book ¦ Let’s Bake a Cake
    Ruth Walton
    3

  • Tales of Princes and Princesses
    Various Authors
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Danger by Moonlight
    Jamila Gavin
    4

  • The Pasta Detectives
    Andreas Steinhöfel
    4

  • Adam and the Arkonauts
    Dominic Barker
    4

  • Little Darlings
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • Tall Story
    Candy Gourlay
    4

  • Not Bad for a Bad Lad
    Michael Morpurgo
    3

  • Clover Twig and the Perilous Path
    Kaye Stearman
    3

  • Mission Telemark
    Amanda Mitchison
    3

  • Johnny Swanson
    Eleanor Updale
    3

  • At home
    Sue Barraclough
    3

  • The Ice Age Tracker’s Guide
    Adrian Lister
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Sparks
    Ally Kennen
    5

  • The Fool’s Girl
    Celia Rees
    5

  • Kisses for Lula
    Samantha Mackintosh
    4

  • Ice Lolly
    Jean Ure
    4

  • White Crow
    Marcus Sedgwick
    4

  • The Truth About Leo
    David Yelland
    4

  • The Island
    Sarah Singleton
    4

  • The Liberators
    Philip Womack
    4

  • Mortlock
    Jon Mayhew
    4

  • Lord Sunday
    Garth Nix
    4

  • Alien Storm
    A G Taylor
    4

  • This Book is Not Good for You
    Pseudonymous Bosch
    4

  • Campaigners
    Philip Steele
    4

  • Biomass Power ¦ Fossil Fuels ¦ Geothermal Power ¦ Nuclear Power ¦ Solar Power ¦ Water Power ¦ Wind Power ¦ The Energy Mix
    Neil Morris
    4

  • Beads, Boys and Bangles
    Sophia Bennett
    3

  • Me, Myself and I: All About Sex and Puberty
    Louise Spilsbury
    3

  • The Lambton Curse
    Malachy Doyle
    3

  • Troubadour
    Mary Hoffman
    3

  • A Million Shades of Grey
    Cynthia Kadohata
    3

  • The Chosen One
    Carol Lynch Williams
    3

  • The Prince of Mist
    Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    3

  • Alice in Time
    Penelope Bush
    3

  • Autopsies: Pathologist at Work
    Gary Jeffrey
    3

  • Africa and the Slave Trade
    Dan Lyndon
    3

Ages 14+

  • Losing It
    5

  • The Last Summer of the Death Warriors
    Francisco X Stork
    5

  • The Sky is Everywhere
    Jandy Nelson
    5

  • Girl, 16: Five-Star Fiasco
    Sue Limb
    4

  • Luke and Jon
    Robert Williams
    4

  • Fighting Ruben Wolfe
    Markus Zusak
    4

  • The Adoration of Jenna Fox
    Mary E Pearson
    4

  • The Diary of a Dr Who Addict
    Paul Magrs
    4

  • My Summer on the Shelf
    T S Easton
    4

  • Inside My Head
    Jim Carrington
    4

  • Beautiful Malice
    Rebecca James
    3

  • The Glass Demon
    Helen Grant
    3

  • Lies
    Michael Grant
    3

  • The Medusa Project: The Hostage
    Sophie McKenzie
    3

  • The Returners
    Gemma Malley
    3

  • Drop Zone
    Andy McNab
    3

  • Out of Shadows
    Jason Wallace
    2

  • Who’s in Charge?
    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)

read more...
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.

read more...
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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