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Books for Keeps 204 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 204 - January 2014
BfK 204

This issue’s cover illustration is from Finding Jennifer Jones by Anne Cassidy. Thanks to Hot Key Books for their help with this January cover and to Atom for their support of the Authorgraph interview with Keren David.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 204 January 2014 .

BfK No. 204 Articles

Editorial 204

Editorial
From the horse’s mouth - Books of the Year 2014

The editors' picks for 2014
Authorgraph 204: Keren David

Authorgraph 204: Keren David interviewed by Damian Kelleher
Adventure stories - alive and kicking in the 21st century?

Is the adventure story thriving? Geraldine Brennan investigates.
John Connolly: bells, books and scandals

John Connolly on his children's series Samuel Johnson
Windows into Illustration: Elys Dolan

Weasels, weasels everywhere: Elys Dolan on her debut picturebook
Ten of the Best: books with a theme of disability

Rebecca Butler chooses ten excellent books
Whatever happened to Jennifer Jones?

Anne Cassidy returns to the story of Jennifer Jones
Books for Keeps Brilliant Bookshops: Formby Books

BfK’s Brilliant Bookshops Formby Books
I Wish I'd Written by Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell on a fortunate discovery.
Good Reads chosen by students at Enfield's Oasis Academy

Readers at Oasis Academy Enfield choose their Good Reads
Briefing 204

News and Awards
Two Children Tell: The Egg and Nicholas

First in a new series by Virginia Lowe on children's early response to stories.
Classics in Short Number 103: Three Royal Monkeys

Brian Alderson on a fraught journey to the Courts of Assasimmon.
Erik Blegvad, illustrator, March 3, 1923 to January 14, 2014

Nicholas Tucker remembers the illustrator Eric Begvad.
Q&A Interview with Rupert Wallis

Rupert Wallis talks about his debut novel The Dark Inside.
CURIOUS FOX IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Happy birthday, Curious Fox.
A Q&A interview with Steven Camden

Steven Camden talks about his novel Tape.
Extract Dream On, Amber by Emma Shevah
ROBERT MUCHAMORE INTERVIEW

Robert Muchamore on his new book Rock War.

Editor's Choice

Knightley & Son
Rohan Gavin
(Bloomsbury Childrens)
4

Meet Darkus, the latest in a line of boy detectives. He comes with excellent credentials. His father, Marcus Knightley, is a special investigator and Darkus has inherited his gifts. Unfortunately, Marcus has been in a coma for the past four years...

read more

New Talent

Tape
Steven Camden
(HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
4

I’m of the generation who painstakingly recorded their favourite songs onto cassette tapes, and used them as love letters. For me, there’ll always be something romantic and hopeful about those little plastic oblongs and their spools of shiny...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 204

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

Under 5s

  • Mr Wuffles!
    David Wiesner
    5

  • Crayon
    Simon Rickerty
    5

  • Z is for Moose
    Kelly Bingham
    5

  • Meet the Parents
    Peter Bently
    5

  • Max and the Won’t Go to Bed Show
    Mark Sperring
    5

  • Monkey Business
    Smriti Prasadam-Halls
    David Wojtowycz
    4

  • The Slightly Annoying Elephant
    David Walliams
    4

  • I love you, too!
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • Star Girl
    Karin Littlewood
    4

  • Dumper Truck Dash
    Peter Bently
    4

  • Yikes Stinkysaurus
    Pamela Butchart
    4

  • Princess Penelope and the Runaway Kitten
    Alison Murray
    3

  • Doug, the Bug that went Boing
    Sue Hendra
    3

  • A Deal’s a Deal
    Stephanie Blake
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Mi and Museum City
    Linda Sarah
    5

  • Peter and the Wolf
    Sergei Prokofiev
    5

  • A Mammoth in the Fridge
    Michaël Escoffier
    5

  • While He was Sleeping
    Ayano Imai
    3

  • Twit: The owl who wasn’t wise
    Steve Cole
    3

  • Crocodiles are the best animals of all
    Sean Taylor
    3

  • Alonzo and the Meteorite: The Adventures of Alonzo the Chicken

    Debbie Kelly
    3

  • Send for a Superhero!
    Michael Rosen
    3

Ages 8-10

  • East of the Sun, West of the Moon
    Jackie Morris
    5

  • Waffle Hearts: Lena and Me in Mathildewick Cove
    Maria Parr
    5

  • Rules of Summer
    Shaun Tan
    5

  • The Brothers Grimm: Folk Tales
    Brian Alderson
    5

  • The Adventures of Shola
    Bernado Atxaga
    5

  • The Ghastly McNastys: The Lost Treasure of Little Snoring
    Lyn Gardner
    Ros Asquith
    5

  • The Legend of Frog
    Guy Bass
    4

  • Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face and the badness of badgers
    John Dougherty
    4

  • Penelope Crumb Never Forgets
    Shaun K Stout
    4

  • Boffin Brainchild
    Jill Jennings
    3

  • Screaming Sands: The Day the Donkey Dropped Dead
    Sam Hay
    3

Ages 10-14

  • East of the Sun, West of the Moon
    Jackie Morris
    5

  • The Ransom of Dond
    Siobhan Dowd
    5

  • Line of Fire Diary of an Unknown Soldier
    Barroux
    5

  • The Boy on the Porch
    Sharon Creech
    5

  • The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth
    Mackenzie Crook
    4

  • My Brother's Shadow
    Tom Avery
    4

  • Knightley & Son
    Rohan Gavin
    4

  • The Amazing Tale of Ali Pasha
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • Lizzy Bennet’s Diary
    Marcia Williams
    4

  • The Executioner’s Daughter
    Jane Hardstaff
    4

  • Jake and Lily
    Jerry Spinelli
    4

  • Boys don't Knit
    T S Easton
    4

  • A Room full of Chocolate
    Jane Elson
    4

  • The Spook's Revenge
    Joseph Delaney
    4

Ages 14+

  • Running Girl
    Simon Mason
    5

  • Witch Finder
    Ruth Warburton
    4

  • Tape
    Steven Camden
    4

  • When Mr Dog Bites
    Brian Conaghan
    4

  • Salvage
    Keren David
    4

  • Just One Year
    Gayle Forman
    4

  • Dead Ends
    Erin Lange
    4

Books About Children's Books

  • Roald Dahl (New Casebooks)
    Ann Alston
    Catherine Butler
    5

BfK News

McCaughrean and Smith winners 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest children’s book awards, are announced today, Monday 18thJune.

read more...
LOLLIES 2018 SHORTLIST THE YEAR’S FUNNIEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Lollies logoMichael Rosen has announced the shortlist for the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies). This is the third year of The Lollies, created by Scholastic UK, to celebrate the funniest children’s books.

read more...
ZANIB MIAN WINS 2018 LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) has announced that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Zanib Mian for her book, The Muslims, (Sweet Apple Books).

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2018 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The shortlist for the 2018 Klaus Flugge Prize has been revealed. Set up to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and a key figure in children’s picture books, this important new award, now in its third year, is for the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

read more...
THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

Conflicts, Class and Youth Protest

Islamophobia, young people’s activism, the Syrian conflict, challenges to gendered occupations, the English class system and workers’ pay and conditions are just some of the subjects highlighted by the 8-strong shortlist for this year’s Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction.

read more...
DEBUT AUTHORS AND THEIR EDITORS ON 2018 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2018 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.

BBA shortlist 2018

read more...
CLiPPA 2018 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2018 shortlist for the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Established in 2003, the CLiPPA encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children and has done a huge amount to encourage the publishing of children’s poetry.

read more...
THE HATE U GIVE WINS WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE 2018

Angie ThomasWCBP logo

read more...
SHORTLISTS FOR 2018 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

CILIP CKG logo

The shortlists for the 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, are announced today, Thursday 15th March.

read more...
2018 HENRIETTA BRANFORD WRITING COMPETITION NOW OPEN

Young writers invited to finish a story started by 2017 Branford Boase Award winner, Beetle Boy author M. G. Leonard

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...
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