Books for Keeps 217 - the children's book magazine online

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 this PDF file link - 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. 217 - March 2016

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Love Song by Sophia Bennett. Thanks to Chicken House for their help with this cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 217 March 2016 .

BfK No. 217 Articles

Editorial 217

by Ferelith Hordon

Our (Shakespeare) revels are now just beginning…

Tony Bradman on the lasting appeal of the Bard

Prospero’s Island

Teresa Cremin reports on a fascinating experiential theatre project

Windows into Illustration: Ben Newman

Ben Newman on illustrating Professor Astro Cat

Authorgraph 217 Sophia Bennett

Sophia Bennett interviewed by Ferelith Hordon

Ten of the Best Books to Introduce Children to the Great Outdoors

Chosen by Margaret Mallett

Animal at the Story Museum

Geraldine McCaughrean on a new exhibition

The Write Course

MA courses in writing for children appraised by Geraldine Brennan

Funny Girls

Jenny McLachlan interviewed by Damian Kelleher

Louise Rennison Obituary

Louise Rennison remembered by her publisher Brenda Gardner

Good Reads 217

Chosen by members of Baring Bookworms Chatterbooks

I Wish I’d Written: Abi Elphinstone

Abi Elphinstone chooses

Two Children Tell: Rebecca and Nick And Michael

Rebecca and Nick and Michael Foreman

Classics in Short No 116

Brian Alderson on the magic saving of Racketty-Packetty House

A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH KENNETH OPPEL

The author answers questions on his new book The Nest.

HOMOPHONES AND LOST DOGS: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANN M MARTIN

The author of the Babysitters' Club talks about her new novel How to Look for a Lost Dog

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRITTA TECKENTRUP

Britta Teckentrup interviewed by Pam Dix

Editor's Choice

Where My Feet Go

Birgitta Sif

(Andersen Press)

When Little Panda wakes up in the morning, he is ready for adventure. Where will his feet take him as he travels through the day?

Birgitta Sif's endearing quirky little panda is the archetypal toddler. His world is that of the child as he...

‘I am Medusa Girl. Cold as rock, hard as stone’. This is how Fran armours herself against a world that in her eyes offers nothing but betrayal. The only brightness in her life, her step-brother, Monkey. Then even he is taken away, and Fran finds...

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

Under 5s

A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting

Michelle Robinson

5
Where My Feet Go

Birgitta Sif

5
I’ll Wait, Mr Panda

Steve Antony

5
How to Find Gold

Viviane Schwarz

5
Quick Quack Quentin

Kes Gray

5
Pass It On

Sophy Henn

4
Little Home Bird

Jo Empson

4

Ages 5-8

A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting

Michelle Robinson

5
Oscar the Guardian Cat

Chiara Valentina Segre

5
Quick Quack Quentin

Kes Gray

5
Do You Hear What I Hear?

Helen Borten

5
Before I Wake Up …

Britta Teckentrup

5
One Day on our Blue Planet in the Antartic

Ella Bailey

4
Pocket Pirates: The Great Drain Escape

Chris Mould

3
Finding Winnie

Lindsay Mattick

3
Unicorn in New York: Louie Lets Loose

Rachel Hamilton

3

Ages 8-10

Wildwitch Wildfire

Lene Kaaberbol

5
The Box of Demons

Daniel Whelan

5
Spooks and Scooters

Elen Caldecott

4
Perijee and Me

Ross Montgomery

4
Complete Bird Spotter’s Kit and National Trust Complete Bird Spotter Guide: A children’s guide to bird watching

Robin Swift

4
Beetle Boy

M.G. Leonard

4
The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn

Tania Unsworth

4
Jim Reaper: Son of Grim

Rachel Delahaye

4

Ages 10-14

Rugby Flyer

Gerard Siggins

4
Perijee and Me

Ross Montgomery

4
Lois Lane Fallout

Gwenda Bond

4
The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth

Katherine Woodfine

4
Car Wash Wish

Sita Brahmachari

4
Moth Girls

Anne Cassidy

4
North Face

Matt Dickinson

4
Rebel of the Sands

Alwyn Hamilton

4
Time Travelling with a Hamster

Ross Welford

3
Trickster

Tom Moorhouse

3
A Dark Trade

Mary Hooper

0

Ages 14+

Needlework

Deirdre Sullivan

5
Crongton Knights

Alex Wheatle

5
How Hard Can Love Be?

Holly Bourne

5
Underwater

Marisa Reichardt

5
The Island

Olivia Levez

4
Salt to the Sea

Ruta Sepetys

4
More Of Me

Kathryn Evans

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 21^st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

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.

Award-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.

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

Books for Keeps 217 - the children's book magazine online

Digital version – browse, print or download

BfK Newsletter

BfK No. 217 Articles

Editor's Choice

Where My Feet Go

New Talent

The Island

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 217

Under 5s

A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting

Where My Feet Go

I’ll Wait, Mr Panda

How to Find Gold

Quick Quack Quentin

Pass It On

Little Home Bird

Ages 5-8

A Beginner's Guide to Bear Spotting

Oscar the Guardian Cat

Quick Quack Quentin

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Before I Wake Up …

One Day on our Blue Planet in the Antartic

Pocket Pirates: The Great Drain Escape

Finding Winnie

Unicorn in New York: Louie Lets Loose

Ages 8-10

Wildwitch Wildfire

The Box of Demons

Spooks and Scooters

Perijee and Me

Complete Bird Spotter’s Kit and National Trust Complete Bird Spotter Guide: A children’s guide to bird watching

Beetle Boy

The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn

Jim Reaper: Son of Grim

Ages 10-14

Rugby Flyer

Perijee and Me

Lois Lane Fallout

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth

Car Wash Wish

Moth Girls

North Face

Rebel of the Sands

Time Travelling with a Hamster

Trickster

A Dark Trade

Ages 14+

Needlework

Crongton Knights

How Hard Can Love Be?

Underwater

The Island

Salt to the Sea

More Of Me

BfK News