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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

LONGLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Members of YLG have selected 20 books for each list from no less than 254 nominations.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS 2019

Funny Women win the Lollies!

Lollies winners 2019

Elys Dolan, Emer Stamp and Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon have been named the winners of the 2019 Laugh Out Loud Awards, or Lollies.

read more...
HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

read more...
FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
PATRICE LAWRENCE AND DARREN CHETTY TO JUDGE 2019 LITTLE REBELS AWARD

Little Rebels prize logoAward-winning YA author Patrice Lawrence and Books for Keeps contributor Darren Chetty have been named as judges of the 2019 Little Rebels Award. The Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s books for readers age 0-12 which promote social equality and social justice.

read more...
SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

read more...
NOMINATIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE & KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS 2019

Nominations have been published for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the country's oldest children’s book awards.

read more...
‘SHARE A STORY’ AT THE HEART OF WORLD BOOK DAY 2019

Lauren Child WBD coverSnap by Patrice Lawrence

read more...
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