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Books for Keeps 239 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 239 - November 2019
BfK 239 November 2019

This issue’s cover illustration is from Bad Nana: That’s Snow Business written and illustrated by Sophy Henn. Thanks to HarperCollins 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 239 November 2019.

BfK No. 239 Articles

Guest editorial: publishing with Unbound

Loosing The Arrow of Apollo with Unbound
Being Human

Kevin Crossley-Holland explains how folk-tales make us human
Books of the Year 2019

BfK contributors choose
Ten of the Best: books for beginner readers

Ten of the Best Books for Beginner Readers chosen by Tony West and Margaret Wallace Jones of The Alligator’s Mouth Bookshop
Authorgraph 239: Rob Biddulph

Rob Biddulph interviewed by Louise Johns-Shepherd
Windows into Illustration: Jon Agee

Jon Agee describes putting a wall in the middle of a book
Books for Giving 2020

Your indispensable gift guide. Part one.
Beyond the Secret Garden: Books for Everyone

How to make sure there’s something for everyone on your holiday gift list

Fill your stockings!

Find room for these last-minute recommendations
It’s Wicked!

Celebrating a brilliant creative writing competition
Good Reads 239

Good Reads chosen by students at Herne Bay High School, Kent
Review feature: The Book of Dust

Nicholas Tucker enters The Secret Commonwealth, the second volume in The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman.
Liz Flanagan Imagining Dragons

Author Liz Flanagan ponders our love of dragons
Classics in Short No 138: Tales of Uncle Remus

Tales of Uncle Remus
FURIOUS THING: JENNY DOWNHAM

Jenny Downham introduces her powerful new novel, which is shortlisted for the 2019 Costa Children's Book Award.
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR JASBINDER BILAN

Jasbinder Bilan's talks about her debut novel Asha and the Spirit Bird, which is shortlisted for the 2019 Costa Children's Book Award.
AN INTERVIEW WITH COSTA SHORTLISTED AUTHOR NICHOLAS BOWLING

Philip Womack talks classical myths and heroes with Costa shortlisted author Nicholas Bowling
JUDGING THE COSTA: BALI RAI ON CROSSFIRE BY MALORIE BLACKMAN

Bali Rai discusses Crossfire by Malorie Blackman and explains why it’s the perfect book for our times.

Editor's Choice

Kites Simon Mole
Simon Mole
(Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
5

David has just moved house; new surroundings without the support of familiar people. Perhaps if he can make a kite and join the children on the hill he will find friends. But does he have the right materials? Well, as his grandfather has always...

read more

New Talent

Pet
Akwaeke Emezi
(Faber & Faber)
5

There are no monsters in Lucille; at least not any more after the revolution. Now the angels keep order – angels drawn from the community. But what does a monster look like? And why do the angels found on the pages of old books look so monstrous...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 239

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+
  • Books About Children's Books

Under 5s

  • The Mist Monster
    Kirsti Beautyman
    5

  • It’s a No-Money Day
    Kate Milner
    5

  • Taxi Ride with Victor
    Sara Trofa
    4

  • Lulu’s First Day
    Anna McQuinn
    4

  • Oscar Seeks a Friend
    Pawel Pawlak
    4

  • Somewhere out There, Right Now
    Gemma Wells
    4

  • The Girl and the Dinosaur
    Hollie Hughes
    4

  • Polly and the New Baby
    Rachel Quarry
    4

  • Nuts!
    Lou Peacock
    4

  • Merrylegs
    Pam Smy
    4

  • Moon and Me The Little Seed
    Andrew Davenport
    4

  • Oh Christmas Tree!
    Sue Hendra
    Paul Linnet
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Kites Simon Mole
    Simon Mole
    5

  • Tibble and Grandpa
    Wendy Meddour
    5

  • Beast Feast
    Emma Yarlett
    5

  • Molly and the Whale
    Malachy Doyle
    Andrew Whitson
    5

  • Let's All Creep Through Crocodile Creek!
    Jonny Lambert
    5

  • It’s a No-Money Day
    Kate Milner
    5

  • Taxi Ride with Victor
    Sara Trofa
    4

  • Izzy Gizmo and the Invention Convention
    Pip Jones
    4

  • Oscar Seeks a Friend
    Pawel Pawlak
    4

  • Moon and Me The Little Seed
    Andrew Davenport
    4

  • Angel on the Roof
    Shirley Hughes
    4

  • Jazz Dog
    Marie Voigt
    4

  • Step Inside Homes through History
    Goldie Hawk
    4

  • The Fate of Fausto
    Oliver Jeffers
    4

  • The Little Island
    Smriti Prasadam-Halls
    4

  • Once Upon a Rhythm
    James Carter
    4

  • Under the Great Plum Tree
    Sufiya Ahmed
    Reza Dalvand
    4

  • Dracula Spectacular
    Lucy Rowland
    Ben Mantle
    4

  • In Every House on Every Street
    Jess Hitchman
    Lili La Bateine
    4

  • The Inner Child
    Henry Blackshaw
    3

  • Cornelia and the Jungle Machine
    Nora Brech
    3

  • Castle of Books
    Alessandro Sanna
    3

  • Gaspard Best in Show
    Zeb Soanes
    James Mayhew
    3

  • The Giggle Pigs
    Leonie Lord
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Lily at Lissadell
    Judi Curtin
    5

  • The Velvet Fox
    Catherine Fisher
    5

  • Dr Maggie’s Grand Tour of the Solar System
    Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock
    5

  • Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror
    Natasha Farrant
    5

  • Nevertell
    Katherine Orton
    5

  • Can I Touch Your Hair? A Conversation
    Irene Latham
    Charles Waters
    5

  • HUMANIMAL Incredible Ways Animals Are Just Like Us!
    Christopher Lloyd
    5

  • I Cosmo
    Carlie Sorosiak
    Ben Mantle
    5

  • A Gallery of Cats
    Ruth Brown
    5

  • Oscar Seeks a Friend
    Pawel Pawlak
    4

  • The Fate of Fausto
    Oliver Jeffers
    4

  • The Dead World of Lanthorne Ghules
    Gerald Killingworth
    4

  • Plastic Sucks!
    Dougie Poynter
    4

  • A Postcard to Ollis
    Ingunn Thon
    4

  • The Glassblower's Children
    Maria Gripe
    Harold Gripe
    4

  • The Impossible Boy
    Ben Brooks
    4

  • Through the Eyes Of Us
    Jon Roberts
    Hannah Rounding
    4

  • Jane Goodall: A Life With Chimps
    Anita Ganeri
    4

  • The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch
    Tom Fletcher
    4

  • The House Without Windows
    Barbara Newhall Follett
    3

  • The Night's Realm
    Nick Ward
    3

  • Ant Clancy: Games Detective
    Ruth Morgan
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Lily at Lissadell
    Judi Curtin
    5

  • Pet
    Akwaeke Emezi
    5

  • Some Places More than Others
    Renée Watson
    5

  • Rise Up! The Art of Protest
    Jo Rippon
    5

  • Deeplight
    Frances Hardinge
    5

  • The Pearl in the Ice
    Cathryn Constable
    4

  • The Somerset Tsunami
    Emma Carroll
    4

  • Invisible in a Bright Light
    Sally Gardner
    4

  • Cyborg Cat and the Night Spider
    Ade Adepitan
    4

  • M is for Movement (Aka Humans Can’t Eat Golf balls)
    Innosanto Nagara
    4

  • We Are The Beaker Girls
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • The Boy Giant
    Michael Morpurgo
    4

  • The Fountains of Silence
    Ruta Sepetys
    4

  • The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch
    Tom Fletcher
    4

  • The Fowl Twins
    Eoin Colfer
    3

  • Beyond Platform 13
    Eva Ibbotson
    Sibéal Pounder
    3

  • Resistance
    Brian Gallagher
    3

  • White Eagles
    Elizabeth Wein
    3

Ages 14+

  • Pumpkin Heads
    Rainbow Rowell
    5

  • Scars Like Wings
    Erin Stewart
    5

  • The M Word
    Brian Conaghan
    4

  • Full Disclosure
    Camryn Garrett
    4

  • India Smythe Stands Up
    Sarah Govett
    4

  • The Secret Runners of New York
    Matthew Reilly
    4

  • That Asian Kid
    Savita Kalhan
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Fierce Bad Rabbits: The Tales Behind Children’s Books
    Clare Pollard
    5

  • The 100 Best Children’s Books
    Brian Alderson
    5

  • Why was Billy Bunter Never Really Expelled? And another twenty-five mysteries of children's literature
    Dennis Butts
    Peter Hunt
    3

BfK News

NEW CROWD-FUNDED CHILDREN’S BOOK TO RETELL BRITAIN’S OLDEST STORIES

Children’s Laureate of Wales, Eloise Williams and author Matt Brown have launched a new crowdfunded project, The Mab.

The Mab

read more...
LOOK UP! WINNERS OF THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE 2020 NAMED

WCBP logo 2020

read more...
THE 2020 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2020 Little Rebels Award has been announced. The Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s fiction which challenges stereotypes, promotes social justice and advocates for a more peaceful and fairer world.

Little Rebels logo 2020

read more...
UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2020

The winners of the 2020 UKLA Book Awards have been announced.

UKLA award

The UKLA Book Awards are the only awards to be judged entirely by teachers and highlight texts that can ‘enhance all aspects of literacy learning’.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE 2020 CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

Carnegie Greenaway logo

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CHILDREN READING MORE IN LOCKDOWN

Silly Squad Laura Ellen Anderson

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2020 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The shortlist for the Klaus Flugge Prize has been announced. 2020 is the fifth year of the prize, which was set up to honour Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and an extremely influential figure in children’s picture books. It is awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2020 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD ANNOUNCED

BBA logo

read more...
UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE SHORTLISTS 2020

UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE SHORTLISTS 2020

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SHORTLISTS FOR THE 2020 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

CILIP CKG logo

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, have been announced. Selected by Youth Librarians from the 20 strong longlists there are eight books on each of the two lists.

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