"The most important periodical in the world of British children's books."
Sir Philip Pullman, CBE, FRSL
Bfk 271 March 2025
This issue’s cover illustration is from Dragon Riders of Roar by Jenny McLachlan, cover illustration by Ben Mantle. Thanks to Farshore for their help with this cover.
Taking the popular formula of repetition and memory games, Tarsila Krüse has lots of fun in this bright, appealing picture book. A string of little birdies – a robin, a blue tit, a house martin – all repeat and add to the sentence: ‘A little birdie told me … that someone very special … is coming to the surprise birthday party’. It builds the anticipation beautifully and no wonder the birds, who by now include blackbi …
Taking the popular formula of repetition and memory games, Tarsila Krüse has lots of fun in this bright, appealing picture book. A string of little birdies – a robin, a blue tit, a house martin – all repeat and add to the sentence: ‘A little birdie told me … that someone very special … is coming to the surprise birthday party’. It builds the anticipation beautifully and no wonder the birds, who by now include blackbirds and starlings, magpies and more, get very excited asking questions about this special person who loves cake who is coming to the spectacular surprise birthday party. More excitement is guaranteed when we finally discover who this special person is. It’s a simple but effective piece of anticipatory storytelling and full of added treats and extras. There are colourful items such as party hats or sparkling wands to …
Fans of Jeff Norton’s thrilling Dino Knights chapter books owe a big thank you to his son, Torin, for sparking the idea that led to the series, and its enthralling mix of knights and dinosaurs. It was during one middle of the night ‘playdate’ when Torin was a toddler that he took a plastic knight and popped it on the back of one of his dinosaur toys. ‘As soon as he did it, I thought, “That’s brill …
View Full InterviewAndrea Reece interviews Jennifer Killick, the queen of teen screams, for Books for Keeps. Jennifer Killick has written several very popular books but is well known in particular for the Dread Wood thrillers, far and …
Nicolette Jones reviews the Globe Theatre’s Playing Shakespeare production of the Scottish play. An audience of teenagers at the Globe is probably as close as the theatre can get to the original Elizabethan crowd wa …
Rachel Tilda Wolf’s debut picture book is the story of Wolf, a statue who leaves her quiet plinth in the hope of find more attention in the big city. Full of humour and warmth, Wolf in the City will prove popular wi …
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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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