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Books for Keeps 216 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 216 - January 2016
BfK 216 January 2016

This issue’s cover illustration is from Elmer’s Little Library by David McKee. Thanks to Andersen Press for their help with this cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 216 January 2016 .

BfK No. 216 Articles

Editorial 216

by Ferelith Hordon
Reading the Way: Inclusive Books from Around the World

Dr. Rebecca Butler reports
2016: the books to watch! (publishers A - M)

Leading children's publishers look ahead.
2016: the books to watch! (publishers O - Z)

Leading children's editors look ahead
Windows into illustration: Michael Foreman

A life in pictures
Authorgraph 216 Caroline Binch

Caroline Binch interviewed by Tricia Kings
Ten of the Best Books to boost empathy

Sarah Mears of EmpathyLab chooses
Visual Literacy: flying to another place

by Piet Grobler
Andersen Press - Forty Years Young

Venerable publisher Klaus Flugge interviewed by Joy Court
Peter Dickinson Obituary

Peter Dickinson remembered by Ferelith Hordon
I Wish I’d Written: Jonathan Stroud

Jonathan Stroud chooses one of the finest post-war British fantasies.
Good Reads 216

Chosen by pupils at Aith Junior School, Shetland
The Art of Writing a Novel

by Lisa Williamson
Two Children Tell: Nick And Humour ‘That’s a funny one’

Nick and humour
An introduction to Tiny Owl

Jill Bennett on new publisher Tiny Owl
Classics in Short No 115: Poor Cecco

The cleverest of all the toys
Wild Lily Chapter One

Chapter One from Wild Lily by K M Peyton.
PERDITA AND HONOR CARGILL: AUTHORS OF WAITING FOR CALLBACK

An interview with the mother and daughter writing team.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH KNIGHTLEY AND SON AUTHOR ROHAN GAVIN

The author answers our questions
AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP WOMACK

The author of The Double Axe on reinventing Greek myth
AN INTERVIEW WITH ROSS MONTGOMERY

Imogen Russell Williams asks the questions.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH GWENDA BOND

The author of Lois Lane Fallout answers our questions.

Editor's Choice

The Pushcart War
Jean Merrill
(New York Review Books/Children's Collection)
4

The streets of New York are crowded - pedestrians, cars and the pushcarts - the mobile stalls selling anything from doorknobs to pretzels - and trucks. That’s the problem. There are too many trucks (lorries) that are getting bigger and bigger....

read more

New Talent

Beautiful Broken Things
Sara Barnard
(Macmillan Children's Books)
5

Caddie (short for Cadnam; don't ask!) and Rosie are best friends. Truly best friends though they now go to different schools. Then Suzanne arrives in Rosie's class - beautiful, dazzling, outrageous and troubled Suzanne. Can three girls be best...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 216

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

Under 5s

  • Walter’s Wonderful Web
    Tim Hopgood
    5

  • Say It!
    Charlotte Zolotow
    5

  • The Red Prince
    Charlie Roscoe
    5

  • The Queen’s Handbag
    Steve Antony
    5

  • Have you seen Elephant?
    David Barrow
    4

  • My Hand
    Satoshi Kitamura
    4

  • Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat
    Emily Mackenzie
    4

  • Go Home, Little One
    Cate James
    3

  • Fairy Tales for Mr Barker
    Jessica Ahlberg
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Deep in the Woods
    Christopher Corr
    5

  • Animal Camouflage: Search and Find
    Sam Hutchinson
    5

  • Blue Penguin
    Petr Horácek
    5

  • Den Building: Creating Imaginative Spaces Using Almost Anything
    Jane Hewitt
    Cathy Cross
    5

  • Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back
    Shel Silverstein
    4

  • Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption
    Jose Domingo
    4

  • Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat
    Emily Mackenzie
    4

  • Dragon White
    Shoo Rayner
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Clare and her Captain
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • The Seal’s Fate
    Eoin Colfer
    5

  • The Pushcart War
    Jean Merrill
    4

  • The Storm Leopards
    Holly Webb
    4

  • The Dog Ray
    Linda Coggin
    4

  • Confessions of an Imaginary Friend: A Memoir by Jacques Papier
    Michelle Cuevas
    4

  • Lift-the-Flap Computers and Coding
    Rosie Dickins
    4

  • Jack Dash and the Magic Feather
    Sophie Plowden
    4

  • Dragon White
    Shoo Rayner
    3

  • Gulliver
    Mary Webb
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Anyone But Ivy Pocket
    Caleb Krisp
    5

  • Twenty Questions for Gloria
    Martyn Bedford
    5

  • How to Look For a Lost Dog
    Ann M Martin
    5

  • The ACB with Honora Lee
    Kate De Goldi
    5

  • Baker’s Magic
    Diane Zahler
    5

  • The Story of Antigone
    Ali Smith
    5

  • The Monkey’s Secret
    Gennifer Choldenko
    5

  • Never Evers
    Tom Ellen
    Lucy Ivison
    4

  • The Icarus Show
    Sally Christie
    4

  • Waiting for Callback
    Perdita Cargill
    Honor Cargill
    4

  • 3 of a Kind
    Rohan Gavin
    4

  • Hell and High Water
    Tanya Landman
    3

Ages 14+

  • Beautiful Broken Things
    Sara Barnard
    5

  • Anything That Isn’t This
    Chris Priestley
    5

  • Illuminae
    Jay Kristoff
    Amie Kaufman
    5

  • Silence is Goldfish
    Annabel Pitcher
    4

  • Wild Lily
    K M Peyton
    4

  • Zeroes
    Scott Westerfeld
    Margo Lanagan
    Deborah Biancotti
    4

  • What We Left Behind
    Robin Talley
    4

  • Faceless
    Alyssa Sheinmel
    4

  • Waiting for Callback
    Perdita Cargill
    Honor Cargill
    4

  • Anna and the Swallow Man
    Gavriel Savit
    4

  • Boy23
    Jim Carrington
    3

  • Captive
    A.J.Grainger
    3

BfK News

ADA TWIST, SCIENTIST AND WINNER OF THE LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Little Rebels logo 2017The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) has announced that the winners of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award are Andrea Beaty and David Roberts for their book, Ada Twist, Scientist (Abrams & Chronicle Books).

read more...
RUTA SEPETYS AND LANE SMITH NAMED WINNERS IN CARNEGIE GREENAWAY ANNIVERSARY YEAR

The winners of the 2017 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are announced today, Monday 19 June. In its 80th year, Ruta Sepetys was named winner of the Carnegie Medal for her book Salt to the Sea, while Lane Smith was awarded the 60th Kate Greenaway Medal for his picture book There is a Tribe of Kids.

read more...
HAPPY EMPATHY DAY, 13 JUNE

EmpathyLab illus

read more...
CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2017

Children's Book Award logoMichael Morpurgo

read more...
LAUREN CHILD ANNOUNCED AS 10th WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

Lauren Child, artist and author and illustrator of the award-winning Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean picture books and Ruby Redfort novels, is the 10th Waterstones Children’s Laureate.

read more...
SCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2017 SHORTLIST

Lollies 2017 logoSCHOLASTIC UK ANNOUNCE LOLLIES 2017 SHORTLIST: FUNNIEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

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PATRICE LAWRENCE WINS THE BOOKSELLER’S YA BOOK PRIZE

Patrice Lawrence

Patrice Lawrence has won the Bookseller’s YA Book Prize for Orangeboy.

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UK ENTRANTS FOR BIB, THE BIENNIAL OF ILLUSTRATIONS BRATISLAVA 2107 ANNOUNCED

The International Centre for the Picture Book in Society based at Worcester University and IBBY UK (International Board of Books for Young People) are delighted to announce a collaboration to select UK illustrators for the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) 2017.

read more...
2017 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

Little Rebels logo 2017

The shortlist for the 2017 Little Rebels Award has been revealed. Now in its fifth year, the award recognises radical children’s fiction for readers aged 0-12. Andrea Beatty and David Roberts are shortlisted for the second time, joining a six-strong shortlist.

read more...
THE CLiPPA SHORTLIST 2017

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2017 shortlist for the Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award (CLiPPA). Established in 2003, CLiPPA encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children. 2017 is the 15th anniversary of the award, which remains the only annual award in the UK for published poetry for children.

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