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BfK No. 244 - September 2020
BfK 244 September 2020

This issue’s cover illustration is from Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!: An Animal Poem for Every Day of the Year edited by Fiona Waters and illustrated by Britta Teckentrup. Thanks to Nosy Crow for their help with this September cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 244 September 2020.

BfK No. 244 Articles

Editorial 244

Editorial 244
Would there by a poem about a pangolin?

Editor Fiona Waters describes the joys and challenges of choosing an animal poem for every day of the year.
Ten Essential Children's Books

Ten essential books for young readers chosen by Geraldine McCaughrean
Windows into Illustration: Britta Teckentrup

Britta Teckentrup explains why she was so excited to be asked to illustration The House by the Lake
Authorgraph: Kevin Crossley-Holland

Kevin Crossley-Holland interviewed by Imogen Russell-Williams
Windows into Worlds

Jake Hope on the importance of visual representation and inclusion

Changing the world with books: an interview with Patrice Lawrence

Fen Coles interviews Patrice Lawrence about her new book Eight Pieces of Silva.
The Red Thread of Reading for Pleasure: Looking Back to Learn

Teresa Cremin looks back to her early reading
Beyond the Secret Garden: The Other Side of the Story

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor delve into historical fiction
After the War: A Story that Needed Telling

A Story that Needed Telling: Tom Palmer talks to Clare Zinkin about his new book After the War
I Wish I'd Written: Julia Green

I Wish: Julia Green chooses a book she's loved since childhood
Good Reads 244

Good Reads at home with the Biddles
Obituary: Wendy Cooling

Wendy Cooling remembered by Anne Sarrag and friends
Classic in Short: To the Wild Sky

Go To the Wild Sky for drama and puzzlement
AN INTERVIEW WITH NATASHA FARRANT

Michelle Pauli talks to Natasha Farrant about her new book, The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk.
MAN OF ACTION: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS RYAN

Damian Kelleher interviews Chris Ryan about the latest in his Special Forces Cadets series.
A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH PÁDRAIG KENNY

The author of The Monsters of Rookhaven answers our questions on his book.
Obituary: Emma Langley 1983 - 2020

Ground-breaking young publisher Emma Langley remembered

Editor's Choice

Luna Loves Art
Joseph Coelho
5

Luna greets us with her irrepressible smile and equally irrepressible hair. Excitement radiates from her – she is going with her class on a school trip. In fact everyone is looking forward to it – except Finn. The art gallery is impressive – and...

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New Talent

The Wild Way Home
Sophie Kirtley
4

Fans of Stig of the Dump or Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 244

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

Under 5s

  • Just One of Those Days
    Jill Murphy
    5

  • We Planted a Pumpkin
    Rob Ramsden
    5

  • The Smile Shop
    Satoshi Kitamura
    4

  • Found You
    Devon Holzwarth
    4

  • Shy Ones
    Simona Ciraolo
    4

  • My Friends and Me
    Stephanie Stansbie
    4

  • The Diddle that Dummed
    Kes Gray
    4

  • Stay, Little Seed
    Cristiana Valentini
    3

  • Duck and Penguin Do NOT Like Sleepovers
    Julia Woolf
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Luna Loves Art
    Joseph Coelho
    5

  • Clean Up!
    Nathan Bryon
    5

  • The Teeny Weeny Genie
    Julia Donaldson
    5

  • Mouse in the House
    Russell Ayto
    5

  • A Bear Named Bjorn
    Delphine Perret
    5

  • Never Show a T-Rex a Book
    Rashmi Sirdeshpande
    5

  • The Runaway Pea Washed Away
    Kjartan Poskitt
    5

  • Leap, Hare, Leap
    Dom Conlon
    4

  • The Littlest Yak
    Lu Fraser
    4

  • Teatime Around the World
    Denyse Waissbluth
    4

  • To The Island
    Patricia Forde
    4

  • King of the Swamp
    Catherine Emmett
    3

  • Paris Cat
    Dianne Hofmeyr
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Butterfly Brain
    Laura Dockrill
    5

  • The Midnight Swan

    Catherine Fisher
    5

  • Sofia the Dreamer and her Magical Afro
    Jessica Wilson
    5

  • The Wizards of Once: Never and Forever
    Cressida Cowell
    5

  • The Virus
    Ben Martynoga
    5

  • Question Everything! An Investigator's Toolkit
    Susan Martineau
    Vicky Barker
    5

  • Jefferson
    Jean-Claude Mourlevat
    5

  • The Wild Way Home
    Sophie Kirtley
    4

  • Sky Pirates Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond
    Alex English
    4

  • Season of the Witch
    Matt Ralphs
    4

  • Invisible Nature: A Secret World Beyond Our Senses

    Catherine Barr
    4

  • Zombierella Fairy Tales Gone Bad
    Joseph Coelho
    4

  • The Beast and the Bethany
    Jack Meggitt-Phillips
    4

  • A Mummy Ate My Homework
    Thiago de Moraes
    4

  • Shoe Wars
    Liz Pichon
    4

  • Pizazz

    Sophy Henn
    4

  • Children of the Benin Kingdom
    Dinah Orji
    4

  • Moon Dog
    Jane Elson
    4

  • Life of Riley: Beginner's Luck
    Simon James Green
    4

  • Fearless Fairy Tales
    Konnie Huq
    James Kay
    4

  • InvestiGators
    John Patrick Green
    3

Ages 10-14

  • The Children of Swallow Fell
    Julia Green
    5

  • The Invisible Boy

    Alyssa Hollingsworth
    5

  • The Key to Finding Jack
    Ewa Jozefkowicz
    5

  • Small Town Hero
    Patrick Neate
    5

  • The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith
    Loris Owen
    5

  • Dark Blue Rising
    Teri Terry
    5

  • The Wizard in My Shed

    Simon Farnaby
    5

  • The Monsters of Rookhaven
    Pádraig Kenny
    5

  • The Tigers in the Tower
    Julia Golding
    5

  • The Unadoptables
    Hana Tooke
    4

  • Moonchild Voyage of the Lost and Found
    Aisha Bushby
    4

  • How Jack Lost Time
    Stéphanie Lapointe
    4

  • When Life Gives You Mangoes
    Kereen Getten
    4

  • My Story: Noor-Un-Nissa Inayat Khan
    Sufiya Ahmed
    4

  • I Am Not A Label
    Cerrie Burnell
    4

  • Happy, Healthy Minds
    The School of Life
    4

  • Macbeth United

    Michael Rosen
    3

  • Tamarind & the Star of Ishta
    Jasbinder Bilan
    2

Ages 14+

  • Punching the Air
    Ibi Zoboi
    Yusuf Salaam
    5

  • I, Ada: Ada Lovelace
    Julia Gray
    5

  • The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea

    Maggie Tokuda-Hall
    5

  • The Girl Who Became a Tree: A Story Told in Poems
    Joseph Coelho
    4

  • Again, Again
    e. lockhart
    4

  • Clementine and Rudy

    Siobhan Curham
    4

  • The Rules
    Tracy Darnton
    4

  • Loveless
    Alice Oseman
    4

  • Wrecked

    Louisa Reid
    3

  • Heartbreak Boys
    Simon James Green
    3

  • How It All Blew Up
    Arvin Ahmadi
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • Seeing Sense: visual literacy as a tool for libraries, learning and reader development
    Jake Hope
    3

BfK News

OU AND MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCH BOOK CHAT SCHEME

The Open University (OU) is launching Book Chat: Reading with your Child, a resource which comprises three short films and support materials to help parents, families and carers read books conversationally and creatively to children. Working with Macmillan Children’s Books, the films use a selection of their picture books and a poetry collection to support families with reading to different ages of children.

read more...
TOM PALMER WINS THE CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Tom Palmer

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Zaro Weil wins 2020 CLiPPA (CLPE Children’s Poetry Award)

Poet Zaro Weil was today announced the winner of the annual poetry award, CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) for her collection of nature poems, Cherry Moon, published by ZaZaKids Books/ Troika Books and illustrated by Junli Song.

CLiPPA winner

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CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY SHADOWERS’ CHOICE AWARDS TO DEAN ATTA AND KADIR NELSON

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Shadowers’ Choice Awards, voted for by children and young people, have been announced.

The Black Flamingo

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LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 UKLA BOOK AWARDS

UKLA award

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EVA ELAND NAMED WINNER OF THE FIFTH KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Eva Eland has won the 2020 Klaus Flugge Prize for the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. She won for her book When Sadness Comes to Call (Andersen Press), in which a young child opens the door to an unexpected visitor, Sadness, personified as a semi-transparent amorphous shape.

read more...
THE JHALAK PRIZE: A NEW PRIZE FOR BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS WRITTEN BY WRITERS OF COLOUR

Jhalak Prize logo

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LIZ HYDER AND EDITOR SARAH ODEDINA WIN 2020 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

Branford Boase Award logo

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UK NOMINATIONS IBBY’S OUTSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES 2021

Every two years, IBBY invites nominations from national sections for its international list of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. The final list is selected from these by the IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Young People with Disabilities, based in Toronto. Because of its international content, the list is unique in the children’s book world. It is a huge voluntary undertaking as every country is encouraged to submit up to twelve titles across the three categories.

read more...
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

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