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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...

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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

HOOD, RUNDELL AND REYNOLDS UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

Morag Hood, Katherine Rundell and Jason Reynolds have been announced as the winners of the UKLA Book Awards 2019 for I Am Bat, The Explorer and Long Way Down respectively.

read more...
CATHERINE JOHNSON WINS LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) is delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Catherine Johnson for her book, Freedom (Scholastic 2018).

Catherine Johnsonn photo Andy Donohoe

read more...
CRESSIDA COWELL ANNOUNCED AS NEW WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

‘Books are transformative because of their unique ability to develop three key magical powers: intelligence, creativity and, most important of all, empathy. Words are power; let’s take magic seriously.’ Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

read more...
STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

read more...
MUHAMMAD KHAN WINS 20TH BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut novel for children is Muhammad Khan for his YA novel I Am Thunder. Set up in memory of author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase who both died in 1999, the award also recognizes his editor Lucy Pearse of Macmillan Children’s Books.

read more...
SLA School Librarian of the Year 2019 Announced

Ros Harding School Librarian of the Year

Ros Harding of The King’s School Chester has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2019. 2019 YA Book Prize winner Sara Barnard presented Ros Harding with her award at a special ceremony at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington, London Kensington on 27 June.

read more...
The Children's Book Award 2019

Earlier this month, Arree Chung was named overall winner of The Children’s Book Award 2019. His book Mixed, which he wrote and illustrated, also won the Books for Younger Children category before going on to win the overall prize.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced at a ceremony at The British Library, hosted by broadcaster and writer Konnie Huq.

read more...
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...
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