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

Books for Keeps 203 - 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 the digital edition (above) and look for the icon in the menu bar that resembles a newspaper article; this will open the edition in a PDF file - 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. 203 - November 2013
BfK 203

This issue’s cover illustration is from Song of the Golden Hare by Jackie Morris. Thanks to Frances Lincoln for their help with this November cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 203 November 2013 .

BfK No. 203 Articles

Windows into Illustration: Charlotte Voake

Charlotte Voake on drawing Lear's Owl and the Pussy-cat
Editorial 203
A dark tale for Christmas from Geraldine McCaughrean

What fairy tales are really for.
The best books for giving Christmas 2013

Editor Ferelith Hordon's choice
Books of the Year 2013

Outstanding books of 2013
Michael Morpurgo: a celebration

An appreciation by Kate Agnew
Authorgraph interview 203: Anthony McGowan

Anthony McGowan interviewed by Caroline Sanderson
Ten of the Best: Books that help introduce children to the First World War

Books about World War One.
Gendered marketing of children’s books

It's not what kids want.
Books for Keeps Brilliant Bookshops: Tales on Moon Lane

Tales on Moon Lane
Mackenzie Crook I Wish I'd Written

Mackenzie Crook marvels at Dahl
Good Reads November 2013

Chosen by readers at St Paul’s Community College, Waterford, Republic of Ireland
Robert Leeson (31 March 1928-29 September 2013)

Robert Leeson remembered by Dennis Hamley
Illustrated books in a digital age

Templar launch Big Picture Press.
Classic in Short No. 102

The Night Before Christmas
Jim Kay Q and A

Jim Kay on illustrating Harry Potter.
GOTHIC REVIVAL: AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNER CHRIS RIDDELL

Chris Riddell interviewed by Damian Kelleher.
Mission Telemark 2013 style

Amanda Mitchison meets someone who is, very nearly, a character out of one of her own novels.

Editor's Choice

Silver Buttons
Bob Graham
(Walker)
5

A new picture book from Bob Graham is always a treat and this is no exception. As always with Graham, the narrative is both simple and subtle. Silver Buttons takes one moment in time and details individual actions that take place...

read more

New Talent

Missing Ellen
Natasha Mac a Bhaird
(O'Brien Press Ltd)
4

Maggie and Ellen are best friends and have been since the age of four.  It’s the opposites attract kind of friendship. Maggie is drawn to Ellen for her confidence, energy and passion for life. In fact, Ellen wins everyone over, even the...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 203

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

Under 5s

  • Silver Buttons
    Bob Graham
    5

  • The Lion and the Mouse (Turn and Tell Tales)
    Jenny Broom
    5

  • The Bear in the Book
    Kate Banks
    5

  • Enormouse
    Angie Morgan
    5

  • Animal Opposites
    Nicola Killen
    4

  • Do You Speak English, Moon?
    Francesca Simon
    4

  • Gobble You Up
    Gita Wolf
    Sunita
    4

  • Billy the Goat’s Big Breakfast
    Jez Alborough
    4

  • What Can You Stack on the Back of a Yak?
    Alison Green
    4

  • Upside Down Babies
    Jeanne Willis
    4

  • Spider Sandwiches
    Claire Freedman
    4

  • Snowflakes
    Cerrie Burnell
    3

  • Ding Dong Gorilla!
    Michelle Robinson
    3

  • Yeti and the Bird
    Nadia Shireen
    3

  • How to lose a Lemur
    Frann Preston-Gannon
    3

Ages 5-8

  • What If…?
    Anthony Browne
    5

  • Troll and the Oliver
    Adam Stower
    5

  • Captain Cat
    Inga Moore
    5

  • That is NOT a Good Idea!
    Mo Willems
    4

  • Winter's Child
    Angela McAllister
    4

  • The Tiny King
    Taro Miura
    4

  • Song of the Golden Hare
    Jackie Morris
    4

  • Lollipop and Grandpa and the Christmas Baby
    Penelope Harper
    4

  • A Letter for Bear
    David Lucas
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Let’s Celebrate! Festival Poems From Around the World
    5

  • The River Singers
    Tom Moorhouse
    4

  • I Am a Poetato
    John Hegley
    4

  • The Dragonsitter’s Castle
    Josh Lacey
    4

  • The Reindeer Girl
    Holly Webb
    4

  • The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star
    Jill Murphy
    4

  • Bugs
    George McGavin
    4

  • The Ghost Prison
    Joseph Delaney
    4

  • Ruby Redfort: Catch Your Death
    Lauren Child
    4

  • The Little Ghost
    Otfried Preussler
    4

  • Let’s Play!
    Debjani Chatterjee
    4

  • The Dragon with a Big Nose
    Kathy Henderson
    4

Ages 10-14

  • The Future King: The Waking World
    Tom Huddleston
    5

  • The Lost Gods
    Francesca Simon
    4

  • Eva and the Hidden Diary
    Judi Curtin
    4

  • Frost Hollow Hall
    Emma Carroll
    4

  • Gabriel’s Clock
    Hilton Pashley
    4

  • A Horse called Hero
    Sam Angus
    4

  • Geek Girl - model misfit
    Holly Smale
    4

  • Dead Boys’ Club
    Geoffrey Malone
    4

  • War Dog
    Chris Ryan
    4

  • Wormwood Gate
    Katherine Farmar
    4

  • Stay Where You Are and then Leave
    John Boyne
    3

  • Sawbones
    Catherine Johnson
    3

  • The Jade Boy
    Cate Cain
    3

  • Dark Satanic Mills
    Marcus Sedgwick
    Julian Sedgwick
    3

  • The Falconer
    Elizabeth May
    3

Ages 14+

  • Love in Revolution
    B R Collins
    5

  • Missing Ellen
    Natasha Mac a Bhaird
    4

  • Tinder
    Sally Gardner
    4

  • More Than This
    Patrick Ness
    4

  • The Killing Woods
    Lucy Christopher
    4

  • How to Love
    Katie Cotugno
    4

  • Weirdos vs. Quimboids
    Natasha Desborough
    3

  • Red Rain
    R L Stine
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • A Sneetch is a Sneetch and other philosophical discoveries
    Thomas E Wartenberg
    2

BfK News

2016 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD: JUDGING PANEL ANNOUNCED

The Society of Authors and the Author’s Licensing & Collecting Society are delighted to announce the judges for the 2016 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s only award for educational writing.

They are: Jonathan Lomas, secondary school English teacher and author; Nicola Morgan, award-winning author and acclaimed expert on adolescence; and Nicky Ransley, school librarian.

read more...
TRANSFORM YOUR SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH THE WORLD BOOK DAY AWARD 2017

The third annual World Book Day Award (WoBoD) launches today (Monday 26 September) and is offering primary and secondary schools across the country the chance to transform their libraries.

Schools are invited to take part in a creative challenge, which celebrates reading for pleasure. For 2017, this will be inspired by A Child of Books, the new children’s book, written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston.

read more...
LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2017 UKLA BOOK AWARDS

The longlist for the 2017 UKLA Book Awards has been announced. The UKLA Book Awards are the only awards judged by active classroom teachers, and next year’s cohort of 56 judges will come from Scotland.

The longlisted books are:

Longlist 3-6

All Aboard for the Bobo Road, Stephen Davies illus Christopher Corr, Andersen Press

Take Away the A, Michaël Escoffier, illus Kris Giacomo, Andersen Press

read more...
NICHOLAS JOHN FRITH WINS INAUGURAL KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Nicholas John Frith has won the inaugural Klaus Flugge Prize for the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. He won for his book Hector and Hummingbird (Alison Green Books), about a spectacled bear and his noisy best friend.

read more...
SLAREAD80 – NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION FOR SCHOOLS AND INDIVIDUALS

The School Library Association is holding a photographic competition Read80 to mark its 80th birthday in 2017. The competition will celebrate reading for pleasure and the impact school libraries have. Competitors are encouraged to take photographs that show people of any age celebrating the joy of reading anywhere.

read more...
BOOKTRUST LAUNCHES NEW CHILDREN’S BOOKS IN TRANSLATION PROJECT

Children’s reading charity BookTrust has announced a new children’s books in translation initiative, called In Other Words, aimed at encouraging UK publishers to publish more works from around the world.

read more...
SLA School Librarian of the Year Award 2016: Honour List announced

SLA logoThe Honour List for the SLA School Librarian of the Year Award 2016 has been announced. The SLA School Librarian of the Year Award is the School Library Association’s prestigious honour to recognize the excellent work that is carried out in school libraries every day and highlight the best practice of those whose work is outstanding.

read more...
CROSSAN AND RIDDELL (AND ROSEN) WIN AGAIN

Sarah Crossan and Michael Rosen have been named joint winners of the 2016 CLiPPA (CLPE Poetry Award), Sarah Crossan won with her verse novel One, which is also winner of the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal and YA Prize, while Rosen won for A Great Big Cuddle, illustrated by Chris Riddell.

CLiPPA winners

read more...
UKLA BOOK AWARDS 2016 WINNERS ANNOUNCED

UKLA Award logoThe winners of the UKLA Book Awards, the only awards to be judged entirely by teachers, have been announced.

read more...
HORATIO CLARE WINS 2016 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Horatio Clare and his editor Penny Thomas have won the 2016 Branford Boase Award given annually to the author and editor of the outstanding debut novel for children, for Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot publi

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