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Books for Keeps 184 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 184 - September 2010
BfK 184 September 2010

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Nick Sharrat’s One Fluffy Baa-Lamb, Ten Hairy Caterpillars. Nick Sharratt is interviewed by Joanna Carey. Thanks to Alison Green Books for their help with this September cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 184 September 2010.

BfK No. 184 Articles

A Books for Keeps extract from Stories for a Fragile Planet

From Stories for a Fragile Planet
Rick Riordan - our featured author this week

2010 has already proved a phenomenal year for Rick Riordan...
Editorial – September 2010

News and comment from the Editor.
David Almond: a retrospective

Clive Barnes assesses Almond’s contribution to children’s
literature.
Ten of the Best Gothic Novels

Geraldine Brennan chooses her top ten titles.
BfK BASICS: helping your child enjoy books and reading

Liz Attenborough advises how to share books with babies.
Windows into Illustration: Eric Hill

Eric Hill on his now classic title, Where’s Spot?
Authorgraph No.184: Nick Sharratt

Nick Sharratt is interviewed by Joanna Carey.
Pullman’s Progress

Nicholas Tucker discusses Pullman’s
views on religion.
Briefing – September 2010

News * Exhibitions * Awards * Obituary
Hal’s Reading Diary – September 2010

Roger Mills on Hal’s increasing motivation to read.
I Wish I’d Written… Tom’s Midnight Garden

Chris Priestley chooses Philippa Pearce’s Tom’s Midnight Garden.
Good Reads: St Stithians Girls’ Preparatory School, South Africa

Reviews from pupils of St Stithians Girls’ Preparatory School, Randburg, South Africa.
Classics in Short No.83: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Brian Alderson on Mark Twain’s The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Books for Keeps extract from Dancing in the Dark

From Dancing in the Dark
A Books for Keeps extract from Boy Called M.O.U.S.E.

From Boy Called M.O.U.S.E.
Michael Rosen publishes Big Book of Bad Things

Thursday 7 October is National Poetry Day and Books for Keeps talks to Michael Rosen

Books of 2010 chosen by the new School Librarian Of The Year

Books for Keeps asked Duncan Wright and Kevin Sheehan to select their books of 2010
A Books for Keeps extract from Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero

A new novel by Rick Riordan.
A Books for Keeps extract from Worse Things Happen At Sea!

From Worse Things Happen At Sea!
Books for Hallowe'en

Books for Keeps’ selection of Hallowe'en titles.
A Books for Keeps extract from Pull Out All The Stops!

From Pull Out All The Stops! by Geraldine McCaughrean

Editor's Choice

The 10pm Question
Kate De Goldi
(Templar Publishing)
4

12-year-old Frankie’s mum works from home making cakes for restaurants. Frankie, who suffers from chronic anxiety and imagines every worst case scenario is about to happen, takes comfort in asking her at bedtime about his latest anxieties – hence...

read more

New Talent

Apple Pie ABC
Alison Murray
(Orchard)
4

According to the Opies, the nursery rhyme ‘A was an apple-pie’ was ‘well known in the reign of Charles II’ and by the nineteenth century ‘was a favourite for ABC instruction’. Kate Greenaway’s A Apple Pie, for example, which was...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 184

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

Under 5s

  • Look Out Leon
    Jez Alborough
    5

  • The Fly
    Petr Horácek
    5

  • My Sister is an Alien
    Rachel Bright
    4

  • Baby Ruby Bawled
    Malaika Rose Stanley
    4

  • Apple Pie ABC
    Alison Murray
    4

  • The Night Iceberg
    Helen Stephens
    4

  • Bedtime Hullabaloo!
    David Conway
    3

  • Ants in Your Pants!
    Julia Jarman
    3

  • Bumping Buffalo
    Mwenye Hadithi
    3

  • A Walk in the Wild Woods
    Lis Jones
    3

  • The Sunflower Sword
    Mark Sperring
    3

  • The Great Big Book of Families
    Mary Hoffman
    3

Ages 5-8

  • April Underhill, Tooth Fairy
    Bob Graham
    5

  • E is for Ethiopia ¦ S is for South Africa
    Ashenafi Gudeta
    5

  • Gracie the Lighthouse Cat
    Ruth Brown
    4

  • Mary’s Penny
    Tanya Landman
    3

  • Ella Moves House
    Angela Hassall
    3

  • The Day the Rains Fell
    Anne Faundez
    3

  • Thomas the Tank Engine - 65th anniversary edition
    Rev W Awdry
    3

  • My Favourite Animal Families
    Steve Bloom
    3

Ages 8-10

  • My Uncle's Dunkirk
    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    5

  • Goal!
    Mina Javaherbin
    3

  • Road Horse
    Caroline Binch
    3

  • Ship's Cat Doris
    Jane Simmons
    3

  • Bitter Chocolate
    Sally Grindley
    3

  • How Ali Ferguson Saved Houdini
    Elen Caldecott
    3

  • Would You Believe… two cyclists invented the aeroplane?! ¦ ... in Mexico, people picnic at Granny's grave?! ¦ ... bed testers get paid to sleep?! ¦ ... Vatican City is a country?!
    Richard Platt
    3

  • Dead Man's Cove
    Lauren St John
    2

  • Dewey: The true story of a world famous library cat
    Vicki Myron
    2

Ages 10-14

  • An Elephant in the Garden
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • Wasted
    Nicola Morgan
    5

  • A Web of Air
    Philip Reeve
    5

  • Annexed
    Sharon Dogar
    5

  • My Name is Mina
    David Almond
    5

  • Reckless
    Cornelia Funke
    5

  • The 10pm Question
    Kate De Goldi
    4

  • Dark Goddess
    Sarwat Chadda
    4

  • The Lambton Curse
    Malachy Doyle
    3

  • Theodore Boone
    John Grisham
    3

  • Spirit Hunter
    Katy Moran
    3

  • Mistress of the Storm
    M L Welsh
    3

  • Space Crime Conspiracy
    Gareth P Jones
    3

  • Sisters Red
    Jackson Pearce
    3

  • Reducing the Carbon Footprint ¦ Waste Disposal ¦ Climate Change ¦ Water ¦ Resources ¦ Feeding the World
    Anne Rooney
    3

  • Me, Myself and I: All about sex and puberty
    Louise Spilsbury
    3

  • The Moonstone Legacy
    Diana de Gunzburg
    Tony Wild
    1

Ages 14+

  • Losing It
    5

  • Burning Mountain
    L J Adlington
    5

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

  • I'm Not Scared
    Niccolo Ammaniti
    4

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

  • Pretty Monsters
    Kelly Link
    4

  • Beautiful Malice
    Rebecca James
    3

  • White Cat
    Holly Black
    3

  • The Glass Demon
    Helen Grant
    3

  • Lies
    Michael Grant
    3

  • Monsters of Men
    Patrick Ness
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Children’s Literature and Social Change. Some Case Studies from Barbara Hofland to Philip Pullman
    Dennis Butts
    4

  • School Blues
    Daniel Pennac
    4

  • Spoilt Rotten: the Toxic Cult of Sentimentality
    Theodore Dalrymple
    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)

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.

read more...
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