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Books for Keeps 214 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 214 - September 2015
BfK 214 September 2014

This issue’s cover illustration is from One by Sarah Crossan. Thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for their help with this September cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 214 September 2015 .

BfK No. 214 Articles

Editorial 214

Comment from the editor.
Where Have all the Stories Gone?

asks Prue Goodwin
Ten of the Best: Books to Introduce Children to Philosophy

John Newman chooses books to initiate philosophical discussion
Windows into Illustration: Kristjana S Williams

Kristjana S Williams on The Wonder Garden and working with old Victorian engravings
Heartsong: the creation of a story book duet

Jane Ray, Kevin Crossley-Holland and Antonio Vivaldi in harmony
Authorgraph 214: Sarah Crossan

The author of One and Apple and Rain interviewed by Clive Barnes.
Michael Foreman: Painting with Rainbows

Michael Foreman talks to Nick Tucker about his Seven Stories exhibition.
Reading Pictures: An Introduction to Visual Literacy

Part one in a new mini-series by Piet Grobler.
Good Reads 214

Good Reads chosen by the Chatterbooks group at Explore Acomb Library
I Wish I'd Written: Angie Sage

The author of the Septimus Heap and PathFinder series chooses.
Comics Across the Curriculum

Hannah Sackett on putting comics to work in the classroom.
Author and editor in conversation

David Fickling talks to Jenny Downham about her new novel Unbecoming
Two Children Tell: Nick and the Crazy Cowboy

by Virginia Lowe
Dorothy Butler Obituary

Dorothy Butler remembered.
Classics in Short No.113: Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book

Little Tommy Thumb with his Pipe and his Drum
AN INTERVIEW WITH KATHERINE RUNDELL

Katherine Rundell talks wolves and wildernesses with Imogen Russell Williams.
AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNABEL PITCHER

Annabel Pitcher interviewed by Philip Womack
MEETING MAC BARNETT: AN INTERVIEW

The award-winning US author interviewed by Ferelith Hordon.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH NICK SHARRATT ON HIS BOOK VIKINGS IN THE SUPERMARKET

Nick Sharratt answers questions on his new book
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH RHIAN IVORY ABOUT HER BOOK THE BOY WHO DREW THE FUTURE

The author discusses her haunting new novel.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH HORATIO CLARE ABOUT HIS BOOK THE TERRIBLE YOOT

Horatio Clare answers questions about his first book for children, Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot.
AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR: AN INTERVIEW WITH BERNARDO ATXAGA AND MARGARET JULL COSTA

Daniel Hahn talks to the award-winning author and translator.

Editor's Choice

The White Book
Silvia Borando
(Walker Books)
5

The little boy is all alone. He stands holding a paint roller surrounded by white; the reader will remember though, that we have just passed a pot of pink paint. So the quest begins, going through the colours to find someone who will stay to play...

read more

New Talent

Longbow Girl
Linda Davies
(Chicken House Ltd)
4

Merry loves her home, Nanteos Farm, in the middle of Wales. It has been in her family for centuries and she is steeped in its history and traditions. Above all there is the tradition that the Owens of Nanteos would always provide an archer...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 214

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

Under 5s

  • The White Book
    Silvia Borando
    5

  • Lovely Old Lion
    Julia Jarman
    Susan Varley
    5

  • Give and Take
    Lucy Felix
    5

  • I’m a Girl!
    Yasmeen Ismail
    5

  • This Orq (he cave boy)
    David Elliott
    4

  • Let’s Go Outside
    Katja Spitzer
    4

  • My Stinky New School
    Rebecca Elliott
    4

  • My Alien and Me
    Smriti Prasadam-Halls
    4

  • Crunch!
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Mango & Bambang: The Not a Pig
    Polly Faber
    5

  • I Don’t Like Snakes
    Nicola Davies
    5

  • Whatever Happened to My Sister?
    Simona Ciraolo
    5

  • Are You the Pirate Captain?
    Gareth P Jones
    5

  • I Wish I Had a Pirate Hat
    Roger Stevens
    4

  • Katie McGinty Wants a Pet!
    Jenna Harrington
    4

  • How the Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel
    Wendy Meddour
    4

  • A Big Day for Migs!
    Jo Hodgkinson
    4

  • The Only Pupil in the School
    Liu Hsukung
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Flo of the Somme
    Hilary Robinson
    5

  • Cities Unfolded: London Through Time
    Angela McAllister
    4

  • Catsup High Detective Agency
    Margaret Ryan
    4

  • Notebooks of a Middle-School Princess
    Meg Cabot
    4

  • Meet at the Ark at Eight
    Ulrich Hub
    4

  • Poppy Pym and the Pharaoh’s Curse
    Laura Wood
    4

  • Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot
    Horatio Clare
    4

  • Future Ratboy and the Attack of the Killer Grannies
    Jim Smith
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Only We Know
    Simon Packham
    5

  • Wild Song
    Janis Mackay
    5

  • Fuzzy Mud
    Louis Sachar
    5

  • One
    Sarah Crossan
    5

  • Katy
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • The Secrets of the Wild Wood
    Tonke Dragt
    5

  • The Lie Tree
    Frances Hardinge
    5

  • The Butterfly Shell
    Maureen White
    4

  • The Boy Who Drew the Future
    Rhian Ivory
    4

  • Longbow Girl
    Linda Davies
    4

  • My Name’s Not Friday
    Jon Walter
    4

  • Sophie Someone
    Hayley Long
    4

  • Gorilla Dawn
    Gill Lewis
    4

  • Madame Tussaud’s Apprentice
    Kathleen Benner Duble
    4

  • The Blackthorn Key
    Kevin Sands
    4

  • Poppy Pym and the Pharaoh’s Curse
    Laura Wood
    4

  • Here Be Dragons
    Sarah Mussi
    4

  • The Secret Dog
    Joe Friedman
    3

  • The Wolf Wilder
    Katherine Rundell
    3

Ages 14+

  • The Rest of Us Just Live Here
    Patrick Ness
    5

  • Girl on a Plane
    Miriam Moss
    5

  • One
    Sarah Crossan
    5

  • These Shallow Graves
    Jennifer Donnelly
    5

  • Lorali
    Laura Dockrill
    5

  • Fire Colour One
    Jenny Valentine
    5

  • Almost Grace
    Rosie Rowell
    4

  • The Butterfly Shell
    Maureen White
    4

  • The Secret Fire
    C.J. Daugherty
    Carina Rozenfeld
    4

  • Liquidator
    Andy Mulligan
    4

  • When I was Me
    Hilary Freeman
    4

  • The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo
    Catherine Johnson
    4

  • Monsters Emerald Fennell
    Emerald Fennell
    4

  • My Second Life
    Faye Bird
    4

  • The Edge of the Shadows
    Elizabeth George
    3

  • Drop
    Katie Everson
    3

  • The Accident Season
    3

BfK News

SHORTLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Selected by volunteer Youth Librarians from longlists of 20 books per medal, there are eight on each shortlist.

Alongside previously shortlisted authors and illustrators, there are newcomers on each shortlist, and as the poetry boom for young readers continues, three verse novels make the Carnegie shortlist by US authors Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds.

The 2019 shortlists are as follows:

read more...
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Raúf and The Colours of History by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Marc-Etienne Peintre, have been revealed as the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award winners.

read more...
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...
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