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Books for Keeps 233 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 233 - November 2018
BfK 233 November 2018

This issue’s cover illustration is from The Afterwards by A.F. Harrold illustrated by Emily Gravett. Thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books for their help with this November cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 233 November 2018 .

BfK No. 233 Articles

Editorial 233

Editorial comment
Fairy Tales: holding the old stories tight by Deirdre Sullivan

Fairy Tale special

Books of the Year 2018

The best of 2018 selected by a BfK panel
Books for Giving 2018

What to put under the tree
Books for Giving Christmas 2018 book list

A list of the books we are recommending for Christmas giving 2018
Authorgraph 233: A.F. Harrold

A.F. Harrold interviewed by Charlotte Hacking
Ten of the best: films of children’s books

A celluloid special by Laura Fraine
Windows into Illustration: Fabi Santiago

Fabi Santiago

‘We English’: Nonfiction and Belonging in Children’s Literature

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor
I Wish I’d Written: Candy Gourlay

Candy Gourlay chooses
Good Reads 233

Chosen by Saint Wilfrid’s C of E Academy in Blackburn
Two Children Tell: Growing up with John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury

By Virginia Lowe
Voices from the Past: Tom Palmer on writing the Great War

The author of Armistice Runner on creating his new book
Never Such Innocence: young people’s responses to the Great War

Review of two books published by the official First World War Centenary charity
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR HILARY MCKAY

Philip Womack interviews Hilary McKay about The Skylarks' War
Classics in Short No 132: How about spending Christmas with the Savages?

A festive special
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR DAVID ALMOND

David Almond discusses his new book, the Costa shortlisted The Colour of the Sun
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR CANDY GOURLAY

The author discusses her Costa shortlisted book Bone Talk
AN INTERVIEW WITH GARTH NIX AND SEAN WILLIAMS

The authors discuss their new fantasy series with Philip Womack
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR MATT KILLEEN

The author of Orphan Monster Spy interviewed by Michelle Pauli.
MY MUM TRACY BEAKER - THE LAUNCH

Rebecca Butler reports on the launch celebration for My Mum Tracy Beaker
AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER BROWN

Peter Brown's complete robot

Editor's Choice

The Afterwards
A.F. Harrold
(Bloomsbury Children's Books)
5

December (or as she is usually called, Ember) and Ness are the very best friends. Then Ness dies. Ember’s life has an empty hole. Ness was so alive and she should be alive. Ember decides she must rescue Ness. There will be consequences ... but...

read more

New Talent

Maybe the Moon
Frances Ives
(LOM Art)
4

Frances Ives won the 2016 LOM Art prize, and this is her debut picture book. Based on her own experience of moving to the city from the countryside, she shows the happy life of Eric in the country as he helps his mother in their...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 233

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+
  • Books About Children's Books

Under 5s

  • I Was Made For You
    David Lucas
    5

  • Little Robin Red Vest
    Jan Fearnley
    5

  • Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny
    Fred Blunt
    5

  • The Pooka Party
    Shona Shirley Macdonald
    4

  • Maybe the Moon
    Frances Ives
    4

  • My Bed is an Air Balloon
    Julia Copus
    4

  • You're Snug with Me
    Chitra Soundar
    4

  • The Lost Property Office
    Emily Rand
    4

  • Mini Rabbit: Not Lost
    John Bond
    4

  • Counting Blessings
    Emma Dodd
    3

  • Mummy Time
    Judith Kerr
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Hubert Horatio: How to Raise Your Parents
    Lauren Child
    5

  • Me and my Fear
    Francesca Sanna
    5

  • Once Upon a Snowstorm
    Richard Johnson
    5

  • Happy: A Children’s Book of Mindfulness
    Nicola Edwards
    5

  • Santa Claus vs the Easter Bunny
    Fred Blunt
    5

  • Inside the Villains
    Clotilde Perrin
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • The Pooka Party
    Shona Shirley Macdonald
    4

  • Armadillo and Hare
    Jeremy Strong
    4

  • Two Kings
    Emma Lewis
    4

  • The Dog That Saved Christmas
    Nicola Davies
    4

  • Sonam and the Silence
    Eddie Ayres
    4

  • The Truth Pixie
    Matt Haig
    3

  • Once Upon a Magic Book
    Lily Murray
    3

  • Ten Nasty Little Toads
    Steve Cole
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Clockwork Crow
    Catherine Fisher
    5

  • The Afterwards
    A.F. Harrold
    5

  • Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers
    Alastair Humphreys
    5

  • Corey’s Rock
    Sita Brahmachari
    5

  • My Mum Tracy Beaker
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • Blazing a Trail: Irish Women Who Changed the World
    Sarah Webb
    4

  • Wiggott’s Wonderful Waxworld: Terror Train
    Terry Deary
    4

  • Into the Jungle Stories for Mowgli
    Katherine Rundell
    4

  • Mr Tiger, Betsy and the Blue Moon
    Sally Gardner
    4

  • A Dangerous Game
    Malorie Blackman
    4

  • Picklewitch and Jack
    Claire Barker
    4

  • Sonam and the Silence
    Eddie Ayres
    4

  • The Missing Barbegazi
    H.S. Norup
    3

  • The Pony with No Name
    Tracey Corderoy
    3

  • The Girl, the Cat and the Navigator
    Matilda Woods
    3

Ages 10-14

  • The Skylarks’ War
    Hilary McKay
    5

  • Louisiana’s Way Home
    Kate DiCamillo
    5

  • My Mum Tracy Beaker
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Drawing Europe Together
    Various Illustrators
    5

  • Wiggott’s Wonderful Waxworld: Terror Train
    Terry Deary
    4

  • She is Fierce
    Ana Sampson
    4

  • The Blue Cat
    Ursula Dubosarsky
    4

  • Race to the Frozen North: the Matthew Henson story
    Catherine Johnson
    3

  • Firebird
    Elizabeth Wein
    3

  • The Lost Magician
    Piers Torday
    2

Ages 14+

  • The Key to Flambards
    Linda Newbery
    5

  • The Chaos of Now
    Erin Lange
    5

  • Glass Town Wars
    Celia Rees
    5

  • Only the Ocean
    Natasha Carthew
    4

  • She is Fierce
    Ana Sampson
    4

  • The Punk Factor
    Rebecca Denton
    3

  • The Price Guide to the Occult
    Leslye Walton
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Reading & Rebellion. An Anthology of Radical Writing for Children 1900-1960
    Kimberley Reynolds
    Michael Rosen
    Jane Rosen
    4

BfK News

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...
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...
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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