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Books for Keeps 189 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 189 - July 2011

This issue's cover illustration is from Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery by Keren David. Thanks to Frances Lincoln 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 189 July 2011.

BfK No. 189 Articles

Editorial - July 2011

News and comment from the editor.
BfK's Brilliant Children's Bookshops

BfK’s Brilliant Bookshops
Marilyn Brocklehurst on the Norfolk Children’s Book Centre.
Children’s and Young Adult Fiction and the ‘war on terror’

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction and the ‘war on terror’. Alan Gibbons on how children’s writers have responded.
The Impact of Reading on Career Propects

The Impact of Reading on Career Prospects
Mark Taylor explains his research findings.
The New Children's Laureate: Julia Donaldson

Nicholas Tucker interviews Julia Donaldson , the 7th Children’s Laureate.
Children's Novels with Disabled Characters

Ten of the Best: Children’s Books about Disability

Rebecca Butler chooses her top ten.
Windows into Illustration: Nicola Killen

Windows into Illustration
Nicola Killen on how she went about illustrating Not Me!
Authorgraph No 189: Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is assessed by Judy Taylor.
Briefing

Awards * News * Obituary
I Wish I'd Written... A Monster Calls.

Siobhán Parkinson chooses Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls.
Hal's Reading Diary

Roger Mills on soporific bedtime reading.
Good Reads

Reviews from the Carnegie Shadowing Group, Fortismere School, London.
Classic A Little Princess

Brian Alderson on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess.
Loadsamoney! An interview with Keren David

The award-winning author of When I was Joe talks to Caroline Sanderson about her new book Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery.
Paula Rawsthorne answers questions about The Truth about Celia Frost

Paula Rawsthorne answers questions about her fast-paced teen thriller The Truth about Celia Frost.
SOPHIE MCKENZIE: MISSING IN ACTION

Damian Kelleher talks to Sophie McKenzie about Sister, Missing.
2011 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner Grahame Baker-Smith

Caroline Sanderson interviewed Grahame Baker-Smith for Books for Keeps and explains how a long journey in search of his illustrator’s ‘voice’ led him to CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal triumph.
Welcome to the World of Jonathan Meres

The author of The World of Norm on jokes, biscuits and P G Wodehouse.

Editor's Choice

This Little Teddy
Lucy Lyes
(Ladybird)
4

This satisfyingly robust ‘touch-and-feel’ board book has five double page spreads each featuring a different teddy bear. On the verso, a friendly rhyme introduces the bear’s name and invites the very young reader to stroke the furry tummy/touch...

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New Talent

The Grasshopper's Run
Siddhartha Sarma
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
4

After many decades when Ruskin Bond was the only well known writer in the field, Indian children’s fiction written in English is beginning to attract attention. Penguin India and Scholastic India alongside smaller publishers are publishing more...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 189

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

Under 5s

  • Bedtime for Monsters
    Ed Vere
    5

  • Oliver
    Christopher Franceschelli
    5

  • Little Rex and the Big Roar
    Ruth Symes
    5

  • Not Me!
    Nicola Killen
    5

  • Superfrog!
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • This Little Teddy
    Lucy Lyes
    4

  • The Happy Book
    Malachy Doyle
    4

  • 100 Things
    Masayuki Sebe
    4

  • Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes
    Anna Kemp
    4

  • Pip and Posy: The Little Puddle ¦ Pip and Posy: The Super Scooter
    Axel Scheffler
    3

  • Don't Panic, Annika!
    Juliet Clare Bell
    3

  • Mine!
    Rachel Bright
    3

  • When the World Was Waiting for You
    Gillian Shields
    3

  • Solomon Crocodile
    Catherine Rayner
    3

  • Hullabaloo!
    Gordon Volke
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Bubble Trouble
    Margaret Mahy
    5

  • Zoo Girl
    Rebecca Elliott
    5

  • Nature Adventures
    Mick Manning
    5

  • The Day Louis Got Eaten

    John Fardell
    4

  • Painting out the Stars
    Mal Peet
    4

  • My Ballet Dream
    Adèle Geras
    4

  • Pirate House Swap
    Abie Longstaff
    4

  • The Little White Sprite
    Gillian McClure
    3

  • Mega Mash-Up: Robots v Gorillas in the Desert ¦ Mega Mash-Up: Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars
    Nikalas Catlow
    Tim Wesson
    3

  • Naughty Nina
    Juliet Mickelburgh
    3

  • Aesop's Fables
    Beverley Naidoo
    3

  • Beowulf the Hero
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School
    David Mackintosh
    3

  • Naughty Toes
    Ann Bonwill
    3

  • Polly and the Wolf Again
    Catherine Storr
    3

  • Hooey Higgins and the Big Boat Race
    Steve Voake
    3

  • The Wrong Pong
    Steven Butler
    3

  • This Book Totally Makes Stuff Grow
    Maggie Bolger
    1

Ages 8-10

  • The Dragon Whisperer
    Lucinda Hare
    5

  • Sky Hawk
    Gill Lewis
    5

  • The Language of Cat and Other Poems
    Rachel Rooney
    5

  • The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
    Chris Van Allsburg
    5

  • One Dog and his Boy
    Eva Ibbotson
    5

  • Saving SS Shannon
    Phil Carradice
    4

  • Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster
    Joanna Nadin
    4

  • Tales from Witchway Wood: Crash ’n’ Bang
    Kaye Umansky
    4

  • The Lion Classic Aesop’s Fables
    Margaret McAllister
    4

  • Kidnap in the Caribbean
    Lauren St John
    4

  • Pillywiggins and the Tree Witch

    Julia Jarman
    4

  • The Snow Merchant
    Sam Gayton
    4

  • Sterling and the Canary
    Andy Stanton
    4

  • The World of Norm: May Contain Nuts

    Jonathan Meres
    4

  • Monacello, the Little Monk
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    4

  • The Crowfield Demon
    Pat Walsh
    3

  • Meerkat Madness
    Ian Whybrow
    3

  • Casper Candlewacks in Death by Pigeon

    Ivan Brett
    3

  • A Roman Rescue
    K A Gerrard
    3

  • Grubtown Tales: When Bunnies Turn Bad
    Philip Ardagh
    3

  • Small Change for Stuart
    Lissa Evans
    3

  • Wasim and the Champ
    Chris Ashley
    3

  • Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission
    Janis Mackay
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Thief
    Malorie Blackman
    5

  • Sister Missing
    Sophie McKenzie
    5

  • Lula does the Hula
    Samantha Mackintosh
    5

  • Everybody Jam
    Ali Lewis
    5

  • I Am the Blade
    J P Buxton
    5

  • Serpent's Gold
    Sam Osman
    5

  • Too Much Trouble
    Tom Avery
    4

  • Velvet
    Mary Hooper
    4

  • Where She Went
    Gayle Forman
    4

  • The Queen Must Die
    K A S Quinn
    4

  • Duty Calls: Dunkirk
    James Holland
    4

  • The Iraq War
    Simon Adams
    4

  • Bad Day
    Graham Marks
    4

  • A Greyhound of a Girl
    Roddy Doyle
    4

  • Forgotten
    Cat Patrick
    4

  • Six Days
    Philip Webb
    4

  • No Passengers Beyond This Point
    Gennifer Choldenko
    4

  • The Truth about Celia Frost
    Paula Rawsthorne
    4

  • Milicent’s Book
    Charlotte Moore
    4

  • The Thirteen Secrets
    Michelle Harrison
    4

  • Wintercraft
    Jenna Burtenshaw
    3

  • The Western Mysteries: The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes
    Caroline Lawrence
    3

  • Ashes
    Kathryn Lasky
    3

  • Diary of a Lottery Winner’s Daughter
    Penelope Bush
    3

  • Sapphire Battersea
    Jacqueline Wilson
    3

  • Wish Me Dead
    Helen Grant
    3

  • Gravenhunger
    Harriet Goodwin
    3

  • The Rabbit Girl
    Mary Arrigan
    3

  • Operation Black Cobra
    Ilkka Remes
    3

  • Sita, Daughter of the Earth
    Saraswati Nagpal
    3

Ages 14+

  • Flip
    Martyn Bedford
    5

  • The Kissing Game
    Aidan Chambers
    5

  • A Small Free Kiss in the Dark
    Glenda Millard
    4

  • Thin Ice
    Mikael Engström
    4

  • Aurora
    Julie Bertagna
    4

  • Killing Honour
    Bali Rai
    4

  • Linger
    Maggie Stiefvater
    4

  • The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean

    David Almond
    4

  • The Grasshopper's Run
    Siddhartha Sarma
    4

  • The Fall
    Anthony McGowan
    3

  • Skulduggery Pleasant
    Derek Landy
    3

  • The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
    Yasutaka Tsutsui
    3

  • Ultraviolet
    RJ Anderson
    3

  • Department 19
    Will Hill
    3

BfK News

DICKENS AND CHILDHOOD CONFERENCE

Dickens and Childhood Conference and Symposium Monday 18 June

It is not too late to book places on this special one-day conference on Dickens and Childhood, which will include walks, lectures, readings, and parallel sessions on topics that will appeal to students, teachers, Dickens experts, and the ‘interested reader’.

Marcia Williams Dickens

read more...
Siobhan Dowd Trust launches competition to help encourage a love of reading

The Siobhan Dowd Trust launches competition to help encourage a love of reading

The Siobhan Dowd Trust is proud to announce that Michael Rosen, Poet and ex-Childrens’ Laureate will be on the judging panel of a schools campaign, which is asking teachers and librarians for their ideas about how they encourage a love of books in their schools. The Trust will use the entries to build up a database of ideas which can be shared and swapped… and the ten best or most innovative ideas will receive £1000 worth of books.

read more...
Maurice Sendak June 1928 – May 2012

Maurice Sendak, who has died at the age of 83 was one of the most important illustrators of the twentieth century. Joanna Carey assesses his career for Books for Keeps

read more...
2012 Branford Boase Shortlist

Branford Boase Award logoSeven authors are on the shortlist for the 2012 Branford Boase Award, announced today, Monday 30 April.

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.

read more...
Riddell and Stewart Guest Speakers at IBBY UK AGM 2 May

Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart will be guest speakers at the IBBY UK AGM on Wednesday 2 May at Random House 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, London. The meeting is free and non-members are welcome. Refreshments will be available from 6.30pm with Chris and Paul speaking at 7pm. Book sales and a signing will take place after the meeting. To book a place email bicarrington@nasuwt.net

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2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlists

2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlists

The shortlists have been announced for the 2012 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the oldest and most prestigious of all the UK’s children’s book awards.

There are eight books on each shortlist, two more than has been usual: a sign perhaps of the difficulty the judges had in making their final choice.

read more...
GUUS KUIJER TO RECEIVE THE ASTRID LINDGREN MEMORIAL AWARD 2012

The 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is to be awarded to the Dutch author Guus Kuijer.

read more...
FIRST BRITISH EXHIBITION OF CHINESE PICTURE BOOK ILLUSTRATION

In April, London hosts the first exhibitions in Britain of Chinese children’s and picture book illustration. The exhibitions feature eighty individual illustrations by China’s most celebrated children’s illustrators, and is organised by the Zhejiang Publishing Group, the Publishers’ Association of China, Propeller TV, and the Chinese Board on Books for Young People (CBBY); with the cooperation of the UK section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY UK).

read more...
NEW AWARD SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED

As we wait for the announcement of the shortlists for this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, two other interesting and unusual award shortlists have just been revealed.

read more...
Transfer for Once Upon A Wartime exhibition

The Once Upon A Wartime exhibition is now at IWM North Manchester, until 2 September 2012

Based on five war-based children’s novels, the exhibition explores the history of real life conflicts from 1914 to the present day through the eyes of fictional children.

Read Kate Agnew’s Books for Keeps review of the exhibition here.

read more...
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