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Books for Keeps 187 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 187 - March 2011
BfK 187 March 2011

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration by Mark Owen at Arcangel is from Julie Hearn’s Wreckers. Julie Hearn is interviewed by Nicholas Tucker. Thanks to Oxford University Press for their help with this March cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 187 March 2011

BfK No. 187 Articles

Editorial - March 2011

News and comment from the Editor.
BfK Rising Talent 2011

Books for Keeps celebrates 12 stars in making.
True Grit Revisited

Geoff Fox discusses the enduring appeal of Charles Portis’s novel.
The Grimm Reader

Neil Philip explains the importance of the Grimms.
Windows into Illustration: Karin Littlewood

Karin Littlewood on the illustrations for Immi.
400 Years of the King James Bible

Michael Rosen on how it came about.
Authorgraph No.187: Julie Hearn

Julie Hearn is interviewed by Nicholas Tucker.
BfK Briefing – March 2011

Exhibition * Awards
Useful Organisations No. 54: Book a Poet

Provides poets to perform their poetry.
Hal’s Reading Diary - March 2011

Roger Mills investigates the appeal of Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Hal.
I Wish I’d Written… Freak the Mighty

Jonny Zucker chooses Rodman Philbrick’s Freak the Mighty.
Good Reads: Cockermouth School Kids Lit Quiz team

Reviews from Cockermouth School Kids Lit Quiz team.
Classics in Short No.86: Swallows and Amazons

Brian Alderson on Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons.
William Nicholson’s ‘The Wind on Fire’ trilogy

Nicholas Tucker talks to William Nicholson
Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children exhibition

Kate Agnew visits the exhibition for Books for Keeps.
The Emerald Atlas: a debut novel of boundless energy

Nicholas Tucker talks to John Stephens for Books for Keeps.
Enter the World of Happy! Giles Andreae's brand new series

Exclusive World of Happy competition for Books for Keeps readers
The Enchanted Country – Hampshire celebrates Ursula Moray Williams’ centenary

An exhibition on Ursula Moray Williams is touring venues in Hampshire and elsewhere
An interview with Andrew Peters

Andrea Reece interviews Andrew Peters for Books for Keeps.

Editor's Choice

Come to Me, My Chickadee!
Carol Thompson
(Child's Play (International) Ltd)
5

This large format board book with its thin card pages and rounded edges is perfect for babies from around six months and upwards. Against white backgrounds Carol Thompson depicts toddlers at different points in the day from waking up in their cot...

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New Talent

Wood Angel
Erin Bow
(Chicken House)
4

Plain Kate, as Katarina is known, has one eye the colour of river mud and the other the colour of the river; she is a skilled wood carver like her guildsman father, so skilled in fact that some people think she has magic powers and are afraid of...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 187

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

Under 5s

  • Come to Me, My Chickadee!
    Carol Thompson
    5

  • The Giant Jam Sandwich
    John Vernon Lord
    5

  • Copy Cat
    Mark Birchall
    5

  • Zog
    Julia Donaldson
    5

  • Tiny Little Fly
    Michael Rosen
    5

  • Susan Laughs
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice
    Chris Wormell
    4

  • Mole's Sunrise
    Jeanne Willis
    4

  • More, More, More!
    Dawn Casey
    4

  • Goran's Great Escape
    Astrid Lindgren
    4

  • That's Mine!
    Jennifer Northway
    3

  • Zoe and Beans: Where is Binky Boo?
    Mick Inkpen
    3

  • Rabbit Pie
    Penny Ives
    3

  • Ribbit Rabbit
    Candace Ryan
    3

  • Night, Light, Sleep Tight
    Janet Bingham
    3

  • Frank & Teddy Make Friends
    Louise Yates
    3

  • Pirate Gran Goes for Gold
    Geraldine Durrant
    3

  • The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate
    Joy Cowley
    3

  • The Sandwich Swap
    Queen Rania Al Abdullah
    Kelly DiPucchio
    2

Ages 5-8

  • The Cloud
    Hannah Cumming
    5

  • Lulu and the Brontosaurus
    Judith Viorst
    5

  • A Little Bit of Mischief
    Jenny Sullivan
    4

  • Mbobo Tree
    Glenda Millard
    4

  • Scaredy Squirrel at Night
    Melanie Watt
    4

  • Terry Deary's Viking Tales: The Hand of the Viking Warrior ¦ Terry Deary's Viking Tales: The Sword of the Viking King
    Terry Deary
    4

  • Rama and Sita: Path of Flames
    Sally Pomme Clayton
    4

  • Bumblebee
    J V Wilson
    4

  • Dodo doo-doo
    Kaye Umansky
    3

  • Roodica the Rude: Who stole the river?
    Margaret Ryan
    3

  • The Ghosts of Creakie Hall: Ace Ghosts
    Karen Wallace
    3

  • Help Me!
    Paul Geraghty
    3

  • The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt
    Megan McDonald
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Bogwoppit
    Ursula Moray Williams
    4

  • Muncle Trogg
    Janet Foxley
    4

  • Tom Trueheart and the Land of Myths and Legends
    Ian Beck
    4

  • Magicalamity
    Kate Saunders
    4

  • Hunefer and his Book of the Dead ¦ The Complete Book of the Dead of Hunefer
    Richard Parkinson
    4

  • Mutiny on the School Ship Bounty
    Jon Blake
    3

  • Macbeth ¦ Romeo and Juliet ¦ The Tempest ¦ A Midsummer Night's Dream
    William Shakespeare
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Blade: Risking All
    Tim Bowler
    5

  • Treason
    Berlie Doherty
    5

  • Eighth Grade Bites
    Heather Brewer
    4

  • Grace
    Morris Gleitzman
    4

  • Control Freak: Diary of a care leaver
    Henrietta Bond
    4

  • Wood Angel
    Erin Bow
    4

  • My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
    Annabel Pitcher
    4

  • The Real Rebecca
    Anna Carey
    4

  • The Medusa Project: Hunted
    Sophie McKenzie
    4

  • Neversuch House
    Elliot Skell
    4

  • If I Could Fly
    Jill Hucklesby
    4

  • Half Brother
    Kenneth Oppel
    4

  • Behemoth
    Scott Westerfeld
    4

  • Children’s Book of Music
    4

  • The Lion Treasury of Saints
    David Self
    4

  • Gladiator: Fight for Freedom
    Simon Scarrow
    3

  • Fugitives!
    Aubrey Flegg
    3

  • Sigrun's Secret
    Marie-Louise Jensen
    3

  • Small Blue Thing
    S C Ransom
    3

  • Tyme's End
    B R Collins
    3

  • Dragonborn
    Toby Forward
    3

  • Long Lankin
    Lindsey Barraclough
    3

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1
    John Vornholt
    Arthur Byron Cover
    Alice Henderson
    3

  • The Bad Tuesdays: Blood Alchemy
    Benjamin J Myers
    2

Ages 14+

  • Fallout
    Sandra Glover
    4

  • Whisper My Name
    Jane Eagland
    4

  • Clash
    Colin Mulhern
    3

  • Crusade
    Linda Press Wulf
    2

BfK News

JASBINDER BILAN WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH HER DEBUT NOVEL

Jasbinder Bilan

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2019: SHORTLIST FEATURES

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award alongside newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing.

Costa Book Awards logo

Click the links below to read new Books for Keeps feature articles on each of the shortlisted authors.

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THE IBBY LIST OF OUSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Dr Rebecca Butler writes.

Readers of Books for Keeps will remember that IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) arranges every two years a competition to identify the very best books for young readers featuring disability or designed to be read by young people with disabilities. Last time this list was compiled in 2017/18 I was the coordinator for the UK section.

read more...
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

read more...
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.

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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...
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