Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

Books for Keeps 200 - the children's book magazine online

  • View
  • Rearrange

Digital version – browse, print or download

Can't see the preview?
Click here!

How to print the digital edition of Books for Keeps: click on this PDF file link - click on the printer icon in the top right of the screen to print.

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 200 - May 2013

This issue’s cover illustration is from The Fabulous Foskett Family Circus, by John Yeoman and Quentin Blake. Thanks to Quentin Blake for this special 200th cover and to Andersen Press.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 200 May 2013 .

BfK No. 200 Articles

Editorial BfK 200

Editorial and special 200th issue competition

THROUGHNESS IS ALL: MEG ROSOFF INTERVIEWED BY GERALDINE BRENNAN

Meg Rosoff interviewed by Geraldine Brennan

TEN OF THE VERY BEST

Ten of the Very Best Daniel Hahn chooses ten of the best works of contemporary children’s literature

Tony Ross: Windows into Illustration

Windows into IllustrationTony Ross on two of his favourite illustrations

500 Million Readers Can't Be Wrong

500 million readers can’t be wrong Laura Fraine asks ‘How relevant is Enid Blyton?’

Poetry by Appointment

John Agard interviewed by Nicholas Tucker

A Life in Pictures: John Burningham

A Life in Pictures: John Burningham interviewed by Clive Barnes

Thirty something years of inspirational non-fiction

Thirty something years of inspirational non-fiction chosen by Sue Unstead

All Aboard with Mo Willems

Julia Eccleshare interviews the creator of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

Darren Shan I Wish I'd Written

Darren Shan dreams of writing the perfect picturebook

Good Reads: chosen by readers at Loreto High School

Readers at Loreto High School, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester choose their Good Reads

BfK’s Brilliant Children’s Bookshops: Letterbox Library

BfK’s Brilliant Children’s Bookshops: Letterbox Library

Classics in Short number 99

Two for the price of one: Brian Alderson chooses two classic works of children’s literature

Celebrating children’s creativity – the SHOUTSOUTH! festival

Beverley Birch on SHOUTSOUTH! the children's festival run entirely by authors.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHORS OF OKSA POLLOCK

The creators of publishing phenomenon Oksa Pollock talk to BfK.

AN INTERVIEW WITH LEVI PINFOLD, WINNER OF THE 2013 KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL

Clive Barnes interviews Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold.

Natasha Farrant interview: The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby

Natasha Farrant talks about her book After Iris The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby

Editor's Choice

The Story of the Blue Planet

(Pushkin Children's Books)
3

Only children live on the blue planet until a grown-up arrives in a space ship on Brimir and Hulda’s idyllic island. Until the arrival of Gleesome Goodday, an intergalactic vacuum cleaner salesman, the island children had been happy enough...

read more

New Talent

The Child's Elephant

Rachel Campbell-Johnston
(David Fickling Books)
5

One of the best children’s novels published this year, and surely a hot contender for any prizes going, this is a story of two parts. The first dwells on the life of Bat, a young herds boy living in a traditional village in the African Savannah....

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 200

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

Under 5s

  • Troll Swap

    Leigh Hodgkinson
    5
  • The Great Big Book of Feelings

    Mary Hoffman
    5
  • Two Nests

    Laurence Anholt
    5
  • Lion and Mouse

    Catalina Echeverri
    5
  • No More Kisses for Bernard!

    Niki Daly
    4
  • I Am Not a Copycat!

    Ann Bonwill
    4
  • My Big World: Facts and fun, questions and answers, things to make and do

    Sophie Dauvois
    Alex Barrow
    4
  • Harris the Hero

    Lynne Rickards
    3
  • The Disgusting Sandwich

    Gareth Edwards
    3
  • Eleanor's Eyebrows

    Timothy Knapman
    3
  • The Mummy Shop

    Abie Longstaff
    3
  • Benjamin and the Super Spectacles

    Rachel Bright
    3
  • Nat the Cat's Sunny Smile

    Jez Alborough
    3

Ages 5-8

  • What is a Crocodile’s Favourite Thing?

    Ben Hawkes
    4
  • We Have Lift Off!

    Sean Taylor
    4
  • A First Book of Nature

    Nicola Davies
    4
  • Tim, Ted and the Pirates

    Ian Whybrow
    3
  • Claude in the Spotlight

    Alex T Smith
    3
  • Murdoch Mole’s Big Idea

    Georgie Adams
    3
  • When Tom met Tallulah

    Rosie Reeve
    3
  • Arthur and the Mystery of the Egg

    Johanne Mercier
    3
  • Mariella Mystery Investigates The Ghostly Guinea Pig

    Kate Pankhurst
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Charlie’s War Illustrated: Remembering World War One

    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    5
  • The Secrets of Stonehenge

    Mick Manning
    5
  • Tuesdays at the Castle

    Jessica Day George
    5
  • An Illustrated Treasury of Grimm’s Fairy Tales

    4
  • Goblins vs Dwarves

    Philip Reeve
    4
  • No Return – Captain Scott’s Race to the Pole

    Peter Goldthorpe
    4
  • Magic Trix: The Witching Hour

    Sara Grant
    4
  • Queenie

    Jacqueline Wilson
    4
  • Captain Valiant and Me: Revenge of the Black Phantom

    Adam Britten
    3
  • The Story of the Blue Planet

    3
  • Wendy Quill is a Crocodile's Bottom

    Wendy Meddour
    3
  • Jemmy Button. The Boy that Darwin Returned Home

    Alix Barzelay
    3
  • The Accidental Time Traveller

    Janis Mackay
    3
  • Super Sister and the Birthday Party

    Gwyneth Rees
    3
  • Pip Street A Whiskery Mystery

    Jo Simmons
    3
  • Tom Gates Genius Ideas (Mostly)

    Liz Pichon
    0

Ages 10-14

  • The Child's Elephant

    Rachel Campbell-Johnston
    5
  • In the Palace of the Khans

    Peter Dickinson
    5
  • The Poison Boy

    Fletcher Moss
    4
  • A Twist of Fortune

    Barbara Mitchelhill
    4
  • Moon Bear

    Gill Lewis
    4
  • Young Knights of the Round Table

    Julia Golding
    4
  • Smuggler's Kiss

    Marie-Louise Jensen
    4
  • The Book of Doom

    Barry Hutchison
    4
  • Fyre

    Angie Sage
    4
  • Monster Odyssey: The Eye Of Neptune

    Jon Mayhew
    4
  • Through Dead Eyes

    Chris Priestley
    4
  • Quantum Drop

    Saci Lloyd
    3
  • While The Others Sleep

    Tom Becker
    3
  • The Disgrace of Kitty Grey

    Mary Hooper
    3
  • The Maleficent Seven

    Derek Landy
    3
  • The Hanged Man Rises

    Sarah Naughton
    0

Ages 14+

  • After Tomorrow

    Gillian Cross
    5
  • Firewallers

    Simon Packham
    5
  • If You Find Me

    Emily Murdoch
    5
  • The Wall

    William Sutcliffe
    4
  • The Butterfly Clues

    Kate Ellison
    4
  • Dead to You

    Lisa McMann
    4
  • Black Sheep

    Na'ima B Robert
    3
  • Heroic

    Phil Earle
    3
  • The Underdog

    Marcus Zusak
    3
  • Shipwrecked

    Siobhan Curham
    2
  • The Last Minute

    Eleanor Updale
    2

BfK News

LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The longlist for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced.

CKG Logo

read more...
LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Klaus Flugge Prize logo

read more...
NOW OPEN: 2021 HENRIETTA BRANFORD WRITING COMPETITION

Finish a story started by Branford Boase Award winner Liz Hyder

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, the annual competition for young people which runs in conjunction with the Branford Boase Award, is now open.

read more...
TWO UK ENTRIES ON IBBY LIST OF OUTSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Every two years, IBBY invites nominations for its international List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. Nominations are made by IBBY national sections and the final list is selected from these by the IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Young People with Disabilities, based in Toronto. Because of its international content, the list is unique in the children’s book world. It is a huge voluntary undertaking as every country is encouraged to submit up to twelve titles across the three categories.

read more...
LONGLIST FOR THE 2021 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The longlist for the 2021 Branford Boase Award has been announced. Set up in memory of award-winning author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase, one of the founders of Walker Books, the Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children.

read more...
NATASHA FARRANT WINS 2020 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Natasha Farrant

Writer and literary scout Natasha Farrant has won the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award for Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, a book which the judges described as ‘pure heavenly escapism and a purely joyful read.’

read more...
ROBIN WALKER WINS THE 2020 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD FOR BLACK HISTORY MATTERS

The winner of the 2020 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award is Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, From African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter. Written by acclaimed Black historian, Robin Walker, the 2020 judges praised this accessible, comprehensive and inspiring book which provides a timely introduction both to Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement.

read more...
IBBY UK nominate Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2022

IBBY UK has announced that Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee will be the UK nominations for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Debut authors Darren Charlton and Jenny Pearson join Natasha Farrant and Meg Rosoff on the shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award.

The shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award has been announced. No less than 146 books were submitted and from those the judges have chosen a shortlist of four. They are:

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)

read more...
BOOKTRUST’S REPRESENTS INTERIM RESEARCH & CLPE REFLECTING REALITIES SURVEY 2020

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

read more...
more
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account