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Books for Keeps 236 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 236 - May 2019
BfK 236 May 2019

This issue’s cover illustration features Rumblestar, book one in The Unmapped Chronicles series by Abi Elphinstone illustrated by Carrie May. Thanks to Simon and Schuster 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 236 May 2019.

BfK No. 236 Articles

Editorial 236

Guest Editorial by Little Rebels judge Patrice Lawrence
Fine Art and Feminism, Education and Inspiration: The Bigger Picture

Fine Art and Feminism, the bigger picture by Sophia Bennett
30 years of Elmer, the indispensable elephant

Happy 30th Birthday, Elmer. Carey Fluker Hunt celebrates
Ten of the Best: Books about Witches

Imogen Russell Williams decides which witches are best
AN INTERVIEW WITH CARNEGIE WINNER ELIZABETH ACEVEDO

An interview with the 2019 Carnegie Medal winner
Authorgraph 236: Abi Elphinstone

Abi Elphinstone interviewed by Joy Court
Windows into Illustration: Victoria Turnbull

Windows into Illustration: Victoria Turnbull

Picturebook talent: the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize shortlist

Martin Salisbury appraises the Klaus Flugge Prize shortlist
Obituary: Judith Kerr 1923-2019

Nicholas Tucker remembers the extraordinary Judith Kerr.
Flights of Imagination: the Migrations exhibition

A guide to the Migrations exhibition by Pam Dix
Beyond the Secret Garden: Taking Series Seriously

Beyond the Secret Garden: Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor take series seriously
Celebrating Jan Pieńkowski

Jan Pieńkowski awarded the Book Trust Lifetime Achievement Award
Bringing Beowulf to Britain

Tony Bradman on a story that’s enthralled him all his life
I Wish I’d Written: Susan Martineau

Susan Martineau on the magic of The Eagle of the Ninth
Good Reads 236

Good Reads chosen by chosen by pupils at Manav Rachna International School, India
Classics in Short No 135: A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls

Brian Alderson assesses the first classic children's book to come from the United States.
A Q&A interview with Bren MacDibble

The author answers our questions about The Dog Runner
An interview with Jacqueline Wilson

Rebecca Butler interviews Jacqueline Wilson about her new novel Dancing the Charleston
AN INTERVIEW WITH VASHTI HARDY

An interview with the author of Brightstorm and Wildspark.
A Q&A interview with Ali Pye

Ali Pye introduces her new character Harry Stevenson.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH MUHAMMAD KHAN

An interview with the winner of the 2019 Branford Boase Award
AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURA WOOD

The author interviewed about her new book, Under a Dancing Star.

Editor's Choice

Tad
Benji Davies
(HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
4

Tad is the smallest tadpole in the pond and struggles to keep up with her many siblings who taunt her with the threat of Big Blub. Then Tad notices her brothers and sisters are disappearing – where have they gone? What will happen to her – she...

read more

New Talent

The Umbrella Mouse
Anna Fargher
(Macmillan Children's Books)
3

It’s 1944, the D-Day landings have just taken place and Pip the mouse is living with her parents inside an antique umbrella in a shop window in New Oxford Street, where Pip listens to stories about her Italian relatives at the umbrella museum in...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 236

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

Under 5s

  • Circle
    Mac Barnett
    5

  • Lubna and Pebble
    Wendy Meddour
    5

  • This Love: A Celebration of Harmony Around the World
    Isabel Otter
    5

  • The Go-Away Bird
    Julia Donaldson
    5

  • Tad
    Benji Davies
    4

  • The Flute
    Ken Wilson-Max
    4

  • Cloud Forest
    Victoria Turnbull
    4

  • Tiny T. Rex and The Impossible Hug
    Jonathan Stutzman
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Five More Minutes
    Marta Altés
    5

  • Hummingbird
    Nicola Davies
    5

  • King Otter
    Jane Porter
    5

  • Paper Planes
    Jim Helmore
    4

  • Hotel Flamingo
    Alex Milway
    4

  • The Great Big Book of Life
    Mary Hoffman
    Ros Asquith
    4

  • I Saw a Bee
    Rob Ramsden
    4

  • The Adventures of Harry Stevenson
    Ali Pye
    4

Ages 8-10

  • The Star-spun Web
    Sinéad O’Hart
    5

  • Cloud Boy
    Marcia Williams
    5

  • Swimming Against the Storm
    Jess Butterworth
    5

  • The Tunnels Below
    Nadine Wild-Palmer
    4

  • The Longest Night of Charlie Moon
    Christopher Edge
    4

  • The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet
    Martin Howard
    4

  • We Won An Island
    Charlotte Lo
    4

  • The Winged Horse Race
    Kallie George
    4

  • The Last Zoo
    Sam Gayton
    4

  • Winter of the Wolves
    Tony Bradman
    4

  • Call Me Alastair
    Cory Leonardo
    4

  • The Adventures of Harry Stevenson
    Ali Pye
    4

  • The Umbrella Mouse
    Anna Fargher
    3

Ages 10-14

  • The Time Travel Diaries
    Caroline Lawrence
    5

  • Dancing the Charleston
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Pay Attention, Carter Jones
    Gary D. Schmidt
    5

  • Winter of the Wolves
    Tony Bradman
    4

  • A Wolf Called Wander
    Rosanne Parry
    4

  • Call Me Alastair
    Cory Leonardo
    4

  • The Middler
    Kirsty Appelbaum
    3

Ages 14+

  • Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black
    Marcus Sedgwick
    Julian Sedgwick
    5

  • Toffee
    Sarah Crossan
    5

  • The Stolen Ones
    Vanessa Curtis
    5

  • Kerb Stain Boys
    Alex Wheatle
    4

  • The Colour of Shadows
    Phyllida Shrimpton
    3

BfK News

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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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...
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