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Books for Keeps 181 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 181 - March 2010
BfK 181 March 2010

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Brian Wildsmith’s The Hare and the Tortoise (© Brian Wildsmith 1966) published by Oxford University Press and re-issued in 2007 (978 0 19 272708 4, £5.99 pbk). Brian Wildsmith’s work is discussed by Joanna Carey in this issue. Thanks to Oxford University Press for their help with this March cover.

BfK No. 181 Articles

Editorial – March 2010

News and comment from the Editor.
The Children’s Books of the Decade

Rosemary Stones reflects on the first ten years of the new millennium.
Brian Wildsmith: A retrospective

Joanna Carey assesses his unique contribution.
Ten of the Best: Books that Introduce Children to Art

Martin Salisbury chooses his top ten.
Authorgraph No.181: Elizabeth Laird

Elizabeth Laird interviewed by Nicholas Tucker
A Time Like No Other

Peter Hollindale discusses A S Byatt's The Children's Book
BfK Briefing – March 2010

Event * Award
Useful Organisations No.52: Perform-a-Poem

A unique poetry performance website for primary school children.
Hal’s Reading Diary – March 2010

Roger Mills on the appeal of violence to children in their books.
I Wish I’d Written… Red Shift

Anthony McGowan chooses Alan Garner's Red Shift
Good Reads: Bishop Rawstorne C of E Language College, Lancashire

Reviews from pupils of Bishop Rawstorne C of E Language College.
Classics in Short No.80: The Eagle of the Ninth

Brian Alderson on Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth.

Editor's Choice

The General
Janet Charters
(Templar Books)
5

Not many generals can be seen wearing a CND badge but General Jodhpur, illustrated by Michael Foreman in 1961 when he was still an art student, is a general who disbands his army so that the soldiers can return home and make their country ‘the...

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New Talent

Quicksilver
Sam Osman
(Marion Lloyd Books)
3

Ever since Alfred Watkins coined the term ‘ley lines’ in the 1920s and proposed that the lines connecting ancient sites are in fact old routes followed in prehistoric times for religious or trade reasons, there have been those who have attributed...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 181

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

Under 5s

  • This is my Book
    Mick Inkpen
    5

  • Yummy
    Lucy Cousins
    5

  • One Smart Fish
    Chris Wormell
    4

  • Little Miss Muffet and other rhymes
    PatrickGeorge
    4

  • The Wide-Mouthed Frog
    Iain Smyth
    3

  • The Terrible Plop
    Ursula Dubosarsky
    3

  • Dennis Duckling ¦ Where is Poppy’s Panda?
    Paul Sambrooks
    3

  • Grandma Comes to Stay ¦ Deron Goes to Nursery School
    Ifeoma Onyefulu
    3

  • What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? ¦ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
    Mandy Ross
    2

Ages 5-8

  • Yucky Worms
    Vivian French
    5

  • The General
    Janet Charters
    5

  • Miko’s Magic Number
    Ruth Brown
    4

  • The King and the Seed
    Kes Gray
    4

  • Pea Boy and other stories from Iran
    4

  • Insect Detective
    Steve Voake
    4

  • Mum and Dad Glue
    Kes Gray
    3

  • Azad's Camel
    Erika Pál
    3

  • My First Book of Garden Bugs
    Mike Unwin
    3

  • Return to the Hundred Acre Wood
    David Benedictus
    2

Ages 8-10

  • The Man Who Lost His Head
    Claire Huchet Bishop
    5

  • The Wainscott Weasel
    Tor Seidler
    5

  • Umpteen Pockets: New and Collected Poems for Children
    Adrian Mitchell
    5

  • Cars: A pop-up book of automobiles
    Robert Crowther
    5

  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula
    4

  • Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ¦ Alice in Wonderland
    4

  • The Kites Are Flying!
    Michael Morpurgo
    4

  • Day by Day by Me
    Various Illustrators
    4

  • Remembering Green
    Lesley Beake
    3

  • The Great Hamster Massacre
    Katie Davies
    3

  • The Wickedest Witch
    Martin Howard
    3

  • Don Quixote
    Miguel De Cervantes
    3

  • Out of the Woods
    Lyn Gardner
    3

  • The Lightning Key
    Jon Berkeley
    3

  • Hamzat’s Journey: A Refugee Diary
    Anthony Robinson
    3

  • The Raven Mysteries, Book 2: Ghosts and Gadgets
    Marcus Sedgwick
    2

  • I Spy: The Constantinople Caper
    Graham Marks
    2

  • Lydia’s Tin Lid Drum
    Neale Osborne
    2

  • The Wild Things
    Dave Eggers
    1

Ages 10-14

  • The Battle of the Sun
    Jeanette Winterson
    5

  • Fortune Cookie
    Jean Ure
    4

  • Thief!
    John Pilkington
    4

  • Halo
    Zizou Corder
    4

  • Time Quake
    Linda Buckley-Archer
    4

  • The Lark and the Laurel
    Barbara Willard
    3

  • Salem Brownstone – All Along the Watchtowers
    John Harris Dunning
    3

  • Witch & Wizard
    James Patterson
    3

  • Hell’s Heroes
    Darren Shan
    3

  • Crocodile Tears
    Anthony Horowitz
    3

  • Quicksilver
    Sam Osman
    3

  • Leviathan
    Scott Westerfeld
    3

  • Energy Revolution: Climate change and our post-carbon future
    Joseph Lacey
    3

  • Esty’s Gold
    Mary Arrigan
    2

Ages 14+

  • Rich and Mad
    William Nicholson
    4

  • Sacred Scars
    Kathleen Duey
    4

  • Hunger
    Michael Grant
    4

  • Inside
    Julia Jarman
    3

  • Paradise Red
    K M Grant
    3

  • Daughter of Fire and Ice
    Marie-Louise Jensen
    3

  • We Were Young and at War
    Sarah Wallis
    Svetlana Palmer
    3

  • Evermore
    Alyson Noël
    1

Books About Children's Books

  • The Private Diaries of Alison Uttley
    1

  • Illustrated Children’s Books
    0

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

read more...
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

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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

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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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