"The most important periodical in the world of British children's books."
Sir Philip Pullman, CBE, FRSL
BfK 254 May 2022
This issue’s cover illustration is from Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A F Steadman. Thanks to Simon and Schuster Children’s Books for their help with our May cover.
Award-winning author Ross MacKenzie has come up with a terrific story here, and the title is very clever, too. In the Dominion, most of the world is in shades of grey, as the Emperor, or rather his evil aunt, a Necromancer, has stolen all the colour, and they keep it for themselves, enjoying its life-giving power. On a magically protected farm, an artistic boy called Darroch wishes on a shooting star that somebody wo …
Award-winning author Ross MacKenzie has come up with a terrific story here, and the title is very clever, too. In the Dominion, most of the world is in shades of grey, as the Emperor, or rather his evil aunt, a Necromancer, has stolen all the colour, and they keep it for themselves, enjoying its life-giving power. On a magically protected farm, an artistic boy called Darroch wishes on a shooting star that somebody would bring the colour back, and, on that very evening, a light brown baby girl is born. Whatever is touching her takes on colour – her blanket, her mother’s skin – and her parents know that she is grave danger, so they try to take her far from the city, but the Emperor’s Ripper Dogs and the Black Coats are soon in pursuit. Her parents are killed, but she is rescued by the mage Sandy Burns and his talking dog, Oliver, …
Is this the final curtain for Skulduggery Pleasant? Damian Kelleher meets Derek Landy to find out more Everyone’s favourite 400-year-old skeleton gumshoe Skulduggery Pleasant is back and I’m meeting author Derek Landy over Zoom to discuss the final book in the second series. Except the gremlins have landed and our Zoom link won’t play ball. So we revert to plan B – the good old telephone – to talk …
View Full InterviewAhead of Empathy Day on 9 June, a report into the impact of one school’s work with EmpathyLab, plus ways to get involved. It’s Empathy Day on Thursday 9 June, a chance for everyone to support EmpathyLab’s mission to …
Charlotte Hacking provides an insight into the collections shortlisted for this year’s Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award. At the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, we are proud to be the National Po …
As the critically acclaimed When Shadows Fall comes out in paperback, Damian Kelleher meets author Sita Brahmachari to discover how her work is inspiring others. It’s a bright spring day when I meet Sita Brahmachari …
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Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.
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