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Books for Keeps 206 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 206 - May 2014
BfK 206 May 2014

This issue’s cover illustration is from Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Thanks to Piccadilly Press for their help with this May cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 206 May 2014 .

BfK No. 206 Articles

Editorial 206

Ferelith Hordon
Stories of WW1 – an introduction

Tony Bradman on a new collection by top authors
Brave Boys and Girls in Wartime

Geoff Fox on texts for children published during the Great War
Tove Jansson: an appreciation by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman on the creator of the Moomins
The Art of Adaptation

Laura Fraine visits Seven Stories’ new exhibition
Holly Goldberg Sloan interviewed

Andrea Reece talks to the author of Counting by 7s.
Lydia Monks: Windows into Illustration

Lydia Monks on painting the dark
Books for Keeps Brilliant Bookshops: Chorleywood Bookshop

A tour of the Chorleywood Bookshop
Ten of the Best Books for Young Feminists

Geraldine Brennan chooses
Damian Dibben interview

Nick Tucker interviews the author of the History Keepers books
I wish I’d written: Kathy Henderson chooses

Kathy Henderson on the book that made her a reader
Good Reads chosen by Bolingbroke Academy

Readers at Bolingbroke Academy choose their Good Reads
Two children tell: James James Morrison Morrison and Nicholas

Virginia Lowe observes her young son's response to books
John Rowe Townsend May 1922 - March 2014

An appreciation by Clive Barnes
Classics in Short Number 105

A rags to riches story: Little Goody-Two Shoes
ALYSSA BRUGMAN INTERVIEWED ABOUT ALEX AS WELL

Interview with the author of the new YA novel with an intersex central character
Margaret Bateson-Hill’s Top Ten Tips for Helping Children Write

Story-teller and author Margaret Bateson-Hill with advice on how to encourage children's creative writing.
Gillian Cross: Rebel

Gillian Cross, winner of the 2014 Little Rebels Award, talks about After Tomorrow.

Editor's Choice

The Weasel Puffin Unicorn Baboon Pig Lobster Race
James Thorp
Angus Mackinnon
(Digital Leaf)
5

There is going to be a race. The animals - weasel, puffin, unicorn, baboon, pig and lobster. Off they go. But who will be crowned champion? In their eagerness to be the winner the animals resort to cheating - all except the unicorn who...

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New Talent

Bone Jack
Sara Crowe
(Andersen)
4

Sara Crowe’s excellent debut novel, while firmly set in the here and now, feels somehow timeless, a characteristic it shares with the very best fantasy writing for children, from Alan Garner to Susan Cooper.

Fifteen year old Ash is taking...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 206

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

Under 5s

  • Elmer and the Monster
    David McKee
    4

  • Nightbear
    Rebecca Patterson
    4

  • When Angus Met Alvin
    Sue Pickford
    4

  • The Big Splash
    A H Benjamin
    4

  • Pig and Small
    Alex Latimer
    4

  • Boom, Baby, Boom Boom!
    Margaret Mahy
    4

  • Stanley’s Garage
    William Bee
    4

  • Little Answer
    Tim Hopgood
    4

  • Little Frog's Tadpole Trouble
    Tatyana Feeney
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Zeraffa Giraffa
    Dianne Hofmeyr
    5

  • The Weasel Puffin Unicorn Baboon Pig Lobster Race
    James Thorp
    Angus Mackinnon
    5

  • The Yes
    Sarah Bee
    5

  • Those Magnificent Sheep and their Flying Machine
    Peter Bently
    5

  • Hooray for Bread
    Allan Ahlberg
    4

  • Flowerpot Farm
    Lorraine Harrison
    4

  • April the Red Goldfish
    Marjolaine Leray
    4

  • The Queen's Hat
    Steve Antony
    4

  • Oi Frog!
    Kes Gray
    4

  • Pigsticks and Harold and the Incredible Journey
    Alex Milway
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Ghastly McNastys: Raiders of the Lost Shark
    Lyn Gardner
    Ros Asquith
    5

  • The Tiffin by Mahtab Narsimhan
    Mahtab Narsimhan
    5

  • Angels Next Door
    Karen McCombie
    5

  • Macavity, the Mystery Cat
    T S Eliot
    5

  • Cowgirl
    G R Gemin
    5

  • Stars in Jars
    Chrissie Gittins
    5

  • The Glass Bird Girl
    Esme Kerr
    4

  • Aliens Stink!
    Steve Cole
    4

  • Charlie Merrick’s Misfits:Fouls, Friends, & Football
    Dave Cousins
    3

  • Maya’s Secret
    Holly Webb
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Temple Boys
    Jamie Buxton
    5

  • Cuckoo Song
    Frances Hardinge
    5

  • Scarlet Ibis
    Gill Lewis
    5

  • Stars in Jars
    Chrissie Gittins
    5

  • The Blood List
    Sarah Naughton
    4

  • Bone Jack
    Sara Crowe
    4

  • The Glass Bird Girl
    Esme Kerr
    4

  • Love, Lies and Lemon Pies
    Katy Cannon
    4

  • Daughters of Time
    4

  • Mutant City
    Steve Feasey
    4

  • Red Shadow
    Paul Dowswell
    4

  • The Tin Snail
    Cameron McAllister
    4

  • Smart
    Kim Slater
    4

  • Brilliant
    Roddy Doyle
    3

  • Girl With a White Dog
    Anne Booth
    3

  • Arrowhead
    Ruth Eastham
    3

Ages 14+

  • Echo Boy
    Matt Haig
    5

  • Buffalo Soldier
    Tanya Landman
    5

  • Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

    Maya van Wagenen
    4

  • Run by Gregg Olsen
    Gregg Olsen
    4

  • The Eye of Zoltar
    Jasper Fforde
    4

  • Trouble
    Non Pratt
    4

  • Silent Saturday
    Helen Grant
    4

  • Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
    April G Tucholke
    4

  • Poppy
    Mary Hooper
    4

  • Hate
    Alan Gibbons
    2

BfK News

ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS’ GREAT ADVENTURERS WINS THE 2019 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Educational Writers’ Award is Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers: The Incredible Expeditions of 20 Explorers (Big Picture Press).

Alastair Humphreys Great Adventures

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BLACKMAN AND DOWNHAM ON SHORTLIST FOR 2019 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award, which was announced today, 26th November 2020. Alongside them on the list are newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing, both of whom are published by Chicken House.

The 2019 Costa Children’s Award shortlist

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2019 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD SHORTLIST

Shortlist announced for the UK’s only award for creative educational writing

The Society of Authors and the Authors’ Licensing& Collecting Society have announced the shortlist for the 2019 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s only award for educational writing which stimulates and enhances the learning experience.

read more...
‘INSPIRING’: CONTENDERS FOR THE 2020 BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS REVEALED

Blue Peter Book Award logo

Six books have made it onto the shortlists for the 2020 Blue Peter Book Awards. There are two categories: Best Story, and – in non-fiction November – Best Book with Facts.

read more...
NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2020 CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

And we’re off… the nominations for the 2020 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are announced today, Monday 4th November.

read more...
2020 UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE LONGLISTS

UKLA Awards

A record number of submissions and a new category to highlight information books marks the 12th longlists for the UKLA Awards, the only national awards judged by active classroom teachers.

read more...
JESSICA LOVE NAMED WINNER OF THE KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE 2019 FOR JULIAN IS A MERMAID

Jessica Love

read more...
LOLLIES 2020 SHORTLIST THE YEAR’S FUNNIEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Michael Rosen, children’s novelist, poet and former Children’s Laureate, has announced the shortlist for the 2020 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies), the awards that celebrate the funniest children’s books.

Lollies logo

read more...
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

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