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Books for Keeps 192 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 192 - January 2012
BfK 192 January 2012

This issue’s cover illustration is from The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan. Thanks to David Fickling Books for their help with this January cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 192January 2012 .

BfK No. 192 Articles

Celia Rees Q and A

Celia Rees answers questions on her new novel This is Not Forgiveness

January 2012 Editorial

Editorial

The Best Children’s Books of 2011

A round-up of fiction, picture books, poetry and non-fiction titles.

Brilliant Bookshops: The Children's Bookshop Huddersfield

Sonia Benster on her bookshop.

Emma Chichester Clark Windows into Illustration

Emma Chichester Clark on how she went about illustrating
‘Wagtail Town’.

Richard Dawkins: The Magic of Reality

Sue Unstead interviews Richard Dawkins.

Ten of the Best Horse and Pony Books

Jane Badger chooses her top ten.

Authorgraph 192 - Margo Lanagan

Margo Lanagan interviewed by Nicholas Tucker.

The Legacy of the Arabian Nights

Neil Philip discusses Marina Warner’s latest book.

January Briefing

Awards and news

Steve Cole I Wish

Steve Cole chooses Catherine Storr’s Marianne Dreams.

Hal's Reading Diary January 2012

Roger Mills on books v computer games.

January Good Reads

Reviews from Widcombe C of E Junior School, Bath.

Classics in Short No. 91

Brian Alderson on Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives.

Life Beyond the Bunker

Susanne Winnacker’s The Other Life is sending shivers up the spine of diehard dystopian fiction fans. Damian Kelleher discovers why.

A Squash and a Squeeze: Sharing Stories with Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson interviewed about the Seven Stories exhibition A Squash and a Squeeze

Sally Nicholls on All Fall Down

Sally Nicholls on her new novel All Fall Down

Editor's Choice

The Highway Rat

Julia Donaldson
(Alison Green Books)
5

A comic homage to Alfred Noyes’s 1906 narrative poem ‘The Highwayman’, Julia Donaldson’s The Highway Rat echoes to dramatically witty effect Noyes’s rhythmic cadences (‘And the highwayman came riding— /Riding—riding— /The...

read more

New Talent

Lolly Luck

Ellie Daines
(Andersen)
4

It is on Lollyanna’s 11th birthday that things start to go wrong. Lolly has always thought of herself, fittingly since her surname is Luck, as a lucky person but even she cannot make everything good when her dad loses his job. Financial problems...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 192

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

Under 5s

  • The Highway Rat

    Julia Donaldson
    5
  • Freight Train

    Donald Crews
    5
  • How Do You Feel?

    Anthony Browne
    5
  • Utterly Lovely One

    Mary Murphy
    4
  • Little Penguin Learns to Swim

    Eilidh Rose
    4
  • Lulu Reads to Zeki

    Anna McQuinn
    4
  • Has Anyone Seen My Chihuahua?

    Clare Wigfall
    4
  • The Day the Gogglynipper Escaped

    James McKnight
    4
  • Chilly Milly Moo

    Fiona Ross
    3
  • Little Lion

    Lesley Beake
    3
  • Big Blue Engine

    Ken Wilson-Max
    3
  • The Three Sillies

    Tony Ross
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Sticky Ends

    Jeanne Willis
    5
  • The Pirates Next Door

    Jonny Duddle
    5
  • Number Rhymes Tens and Teens

    Opal Dunn
    4
  • Pinkie Mouse, Where Are You?

    Alison Green
    4
  • The Barefoot Book of Mother and Daughter Tales

    Josephine Everts-Secker
    4
  • Fern and the Fiery Dragon

    Georgie Adams
    4
  • Bella Donna Witchling

    Ruth Symes
    3
  • The Flute

    Rachna Gilmore
    3
  • Magic Beans. A Handful of Fairy Tales from the Storybag

    Various Authors
    3
  • The Pirate Suit

    Raewyn Caisley
    3
  • Dirty Bertie: Snow!

    Alan MacDonald
    3
  • Me and My Family

    Jean Maye
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Sea Swallow

    Gareth Thompson
    5
  • Penny Dreadful is a Complete Catastrophe

    Joanna Nadin
    5
  • Nelson at Sea

    Simon Weston
    David Fitzgerald
    4
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

    Jeff Kinney
    4
  • The Road to Stonehenge

    Jan Shirley
    4
  • Opal Moonbaby

    Maudie Smith
    4
  • Lolly Luck

    Ellie Daines
    4
  • Mr Gum in the Hound of Lamonic Bibber

    Andy Stanton
    4
  • The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World

    Shahrukh Husain
    4
  • The Peppers and the International Magic Guys

    Sian Pattenden
    3
  • Scrum!

    Tom Palmer
    3
  • Blood Hound

    Tanya Landman
    3
  • To Be a Cat

    Matt Haig
    3
  • Spaceheadz Save the World

    Jon Scieszka
    2
  • Furball and the Mokes

    A N Wilson
    2
  • How the Olympics Came to Be

    Helen East
    2
  • The Sewer Demon

    Caroline Lawrence
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Into the Unknown

    Stewart Ross
    5
  • Dark Warning

    Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
    5
  • 15 Days Without a Head

    Dave Cousins
    5
  • The Kalevala: tales of magic and adventure

    Kirsti Makinen
    5
  • Far Rockaway

    Charlie Fletcher
    4
  • Hollow Earth

    John Barrowman
    4
  • Oliver Twisted

    J D Sharpe
    4
  • Psychosilly

    Alan Murphy
    3
  • Out of the Depths

    Cathy MacPhail
    3
  • Out of this World

    Clive Gifford
    3
  • Street of Tall People

    Alan Gibbons
    3
  • Knowing Me, Knowing You

    Helen Bailey
    3
  • Cinder

    Marissa Meyer
    3

Ages 14+

  • The Song of Achilles

    Madeline Miller
    5
  • In Darkness

    Nick Lake
    4
  • Virtuosity

    Jessica Martinez
    4
  • Twisted Heart

    Eden Maguire
    4
  • A Witch in Winter

    Ruth Warburton
    4
  • Beat the Band

    Don Calame
    4
  • Code Name Verity

    Elizabeth Wein
    4
  • Torn

    Cat Clarke
    3
  • The Catastrophic History of You and Me

    Jess Rothenberg
    2
  • India Dark

    Kirsty Murray
    1

BfK News

DANIEL MORDEN WINS 2013 TIR NA N-OG ENGLISH AWARD

The Welsh Books Council has announced Daniel Morden as winner of the 2013 Tir na n-Og English Award for his collection of stories Tree of Leaf and Flame (Pont Books).

Morden’s first book, Weird Tales from the  Storyteller, was shortlisted for the Tir
na n-Og English-language award in 2004 and he won the award in 2007 for Dark Tales from the Woods.

read more...
ROYAL SOCIETY YOUNG PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2013 SHORTLIST

The Royal Society has announced the shortlist for their 2013 Young People’s Book Prize, naming the six books the judges consider best communicate science to young people.

Professor John Goodby FRS, Chair of the judges described the shortlist as eclectic, but enthralling.

The six books shortlisted by the judges are:

Build the Human Body by Richard Walker (Templar Publishing)

In the judges’ words: ‘A hands on, fun kit to help learn about the human body, accompanied by a well-illustrated, concise, clear book.’

read more...
SARAH GARLAND WINS INAUGURAL LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Sarah Garland has won the first Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Azzi in Between, which tells the story of a family forced to fell their homeland and settle in a strange and unfamiliar country. The book is based on the author’s own experience of working among refugee families and is endorsed by Amnesty International.

read more...
2013 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD: THE SHORTLIST

‘Seven outstanding debuts, eight really interesting authors, doing really interesting things’

The shortlist for the 2013 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.

read more...
2013 CLPE Poetry Award: Winner

CLPE AwardThe 2013 CLPE Poetry Award has been won by George Szirtes for  In the Land of the Giants, illustrated by Helen Szirtes (Salt Publishing). Szirtes was presented with the award by last year’s winner Rachel Rooney at a ceremony at CLPE on the evening of Tuesday 30 April.

read more...
THE 2013 CLPE POETRY AWARD SHORTLIST

Weight of WaterFour outstanding poetry books are shortlisted for the 2013 CLPE Poetry Award. Established in 2003, the annual Poetry Award encourages and celebrates outstanding new children’s poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

The four books on the shortlist are:

read more...
2013 ENGLISH 4 – 11 PICTURE BOOK AWARDS: THE WINNERS

The winners of the 2013 English 4 – 11 Picture Book Awards have been announced. Established in 1995, the awards are presented annually to the best picture books of the previous year, in four categories, Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years, and Non-Fiction 4 – 7 and 7 – 11 years.

From a 15 strong shortlist, the winners are:

Fiction 4 – 7 years

Hippospotamus by Jeanne Willis illustrated by Tony Ross (Andersen Press)

Fiction 7 – 11 years

read more...
IBBY Announces the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award Nominees

The nominees for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award have been announced.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children's books. Awarded every other year by IBBY, the award recognizes lifelong achievement and is given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children's literature.

For the 2014 Awards 29 authors and 31 illustrators have been nominated from 34 countries. They are:

read more...
New Little Rebels Children’s Book Award: Shortlist Announced

The shortlist has been announced for The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award, a new award for radical children’s fiction.

The Little Rebels Children’s Book Award recognises fiction for ages 0-12 which promotes or celebrates social justice and equality. It is awarded by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) and administered by Letterbox Library. Wendy Cooling, Bookstart co-founder & editor and author Elizabeth Laird are both judges.

The four books on the inaugural shortlist are:

read more...
School Library Association Information Book Award 2013 Short List Announcement

The School Library Association has announce the shortlist for the 2013 prize. The Information Book Award is an annual event, in its third year its aim is to reinforce the importance of non-fiction whilst highlighting the high standard of resources available.

The judges - a panel of experienced librarians, SLA board members and a member of Peters Bookselling Services - have produced what they describe as ‘a strong and very varied selection of titles for the shortlist’. These are

Under 7s

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