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Books for Keeps 225 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 225 - July 2017
BfK 225

This issue’s cover illustration is from Poppy and the Blooms by Fiona Woodcock. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for their help with this July cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 225 July 2017 .

BfK No. 225 Articles

Editorial 225

Guest editorial: Chris Riddell reflects on his time as Children’s Laureate
Hopeful Activism … because what we DO as well as what we say matters

A piece of passion from Sita Brahmachari
Hip Hip Hooray for Harry

Imogen Russell Williams considers Harry Potter at twenty.
Windows into Illustration: Guy Parker-Rees

Guy Parker-Rees on drawing Dylan
Authorgraph 225 Chris Priestley

Chris Priestley interviewed by Philip Womack
Ten of the Best Audiobooks for Children

Summer listening chosen by Nicolette Jones
‘The pictures are better’: audio books explained

Thoughts from Nicholas Jones of Strathmore about what an audio producer does.
The Art of Submitting for BIB

Piet Grobler on the art of submitting for BIB, the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava 2107
AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MACKINTOSH

David Mackintosh interviewed by Robyn Sheahan-Bright
Making Room for Children, Swedish-style

Ferelith Hordon explores a new Southbank library
An Interview with Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman interviewed by Nicholas Tucker
Ron Heapy – An Appreciation

David Fickling remembers the great children’s editor Ron Heapy
Two Children and Dick Bruna: a Tribute

Two Children Tell: a tribute to Dick Bruna
I Wish I’d Written: Liz Flanagan

Liz Flanagan chooses
Good Reads 225

chosen by pupils at Worth School, West Sussex
Classics in Short No. 124:The King of the Golden River

Classics in Short No. 124 Climate Change by courtesy of John Ruskin and The King of the Golden River
JACQUELINE WILSON AT THE FOUNDLING MUSEUM

Rebecca Butler talks to Jacqueline Wilson about the new Hetty Feather exibition at the Foundling Museum.
THE EXPLORER: AN INTERVIEW WITH KATHERINE RUNDELL

Imogen Russell Williams interviews Katherine Rundell about her new book The Explorer.
AN INTERVIEW WITH E. LOCKHART

The author of We Were Liars talks about her new book.
AN INTERVIEW WITH A. F. HARROLD

An interview with the author of The Imaginary and the Fizzlebert Stump books.

Editor's Choice

The Pond
Nicola Davies
(Graffeg Limited)
5

How to deal with death and grief? This is the theme of Nicola Davies’ latest book. There is nothing mawkish or sentimental. The young narrator does not hide the anger that grief can bring, both in young and old. The death of the father leaves a...

read more

New Talent

Moon Juice
Kate Wakeling
(The Emma Press)
5

A collection of poems by a new voice writing for children is an event to be celebrated. Moon Juice by the poet, Kate Wakeling is just such an event. However, these are not poems created to grab the attention with the quick laugh...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 225

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

Under 5s

  • Say Zoop
    Hervé Tulley
    5

  • Never Take a Bear to School
    Mark Sperring
    4

  • My Daddy is a Silly Monkey
    Dianne Hofmeyr
    4

  • The Bad Bunnies’ Magic Show
    Mini Grey
    4

  • Poppy and the Blooms
    Fiona Woodcock
    4

  • Monster Baby
    Sarah Dyer
    3

Ages 5-8

  • My Name is Not Refugee
    Kate Milner
    5

  • Storm Whale
    Sarah Brennan
    5

  • Everybody’s Welcome
    Patricia Hegarty
    5

  • Six Blind Mice and an Elephant
    Jude Daly
    5

  • Big Brown Bear’s Cave
    Yuval Zommer
    5

  • The Bad Bunnies’ Magic Show
    Mini Grey
    4

  • The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors
    Drew Daywalt
    4

  • Dino Diggers, Digger Disaster
    Rose Impey
    4

  • Norman the Norman from Normandy
    Philip Ardagh
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Boy, the Bird & the Coffin Maker
    Matilda Woods
    5

  • Moon Juice
    Kate Wakeling
    5

  • The Pond
    Nicola Davies
    5

  • The Last Duchess
    Laura Powell
    4

  • Travels with My Sketchbook
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • The City of Secret Rivers
    Jacob Sager Weinstein
    4

  • The Earth Book
    Jonathan Litton
    4

  • King of the Sky
    Nicola Davies
    4

  • You Can’t Make Me Go to Witch School
    Em Lynas
    4

  • Knighthood for Beginners
    Elys Dolan
    3

  • Help! I’m a Genius
    Jo Franklin
    3

  • The Amber Pendant
    Imogen White
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Moon Juice
    Kate Wakeling
    5

  • Walking Mountain
    Joan Lennon
    5

  • The Incredible Billy Wild
    Joanna Nadin
    5

  • The Evil Within
    Catherine MacPhail
    5

  • Rook Anthony McGowan
    Anthony McGowan
    4

  • The Last Duchess
    Laura Powell
    4

  • Being Miss Nobody
    Tamsin Winter
    4

  • Letters From the Lighthouse
    Emma Carroll
    4

  • Never Say Die
    Anthony Horowitz
    4

  • Defender of the Realm
    Mark Huckerby
    4

  • The Guggenheim Mystery
    Robin Stevens
    Siobhan Dowd
    3

Ages 14+

  • Like Other Girls
    Claire Hennessy
    5

  • Encounters
    Jason Wallace
    5

  • A Berlin Love Song
    Sarah Matthias
    5

  • No Filter
    Orlagh Collins
    4

  • Forgetting Foster
    Dianne Touchell
    4

  • Goodnight, Boy
    Nikki Sheehan
    4

BfK News

BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

The children’s authors to watch: shortlist for the 2019 Branford Boase Award announced

Branford Boase Award shortlist 2019

read more...
THE YEAR'S BEST POETRY FOR CHILDREN: CLiPPA 2019 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2019 shortlist for their poetry award, CLiPPA (The Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Children’s poetry is booming and there were a record number of entries for the CLiPPA, the only award for children’s poetry.

read more...
THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

Little Rebels prize logoThe shortlist for the 2019 Little Rebels Award has been announced. Seven books have made the list with war and conflict recurring themes.

read more...
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...
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