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Books for Keeps 205 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 205 - March 2014
BfK 205 March 2014

This issue’s cover illustration is from All I Said Was by Michael Morpurgo and Ross Collins. Thanks to Barrington Stoke for their help with this March cover and to Simon and Schuster for their support of the Authorgraph interview with Sophie McKenzie.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 205 March 2014 .

BfK No. 205 Articles

Editorial 205

Editorial
Red Squirrel books: the new picture book list from Barrington Stoke

A new type of picture book
What makes reading a pleasure?

Geraldine Brennan considers.
Adapting Emil

Adapting Emil for the National Theatre
CILIP Kate Greenaway Award shortlist 2014

The Kate Greenaway Shortlist 2014 assessed by Joanna Carey
Authorgraph number 205: Sophie McKenzie

Sophie McKenzie interviewed by Caroline Sanderson
Chris Haughton: Windows into Illustration

Shh! It’s Chris Haughton
Ten of the Best Books to Introduce Children to William Shakespeare

Ten of the Best books to introduce children to Shakespeare
Children's poetry today

Fiona Waters on the state of children's poetry
Books for Keeps Brilliant Bookshops: Urmston Bookshop

Welcome to Urmston
I Wish I'd Written ... Josh Lacey chooses

Josh Lacey choses a magnificent adventure story.
Good Reads Victoria Junior School, Workington

Chosen by pupils at Victoria Junior School, Workington, Cumbria
Briefing 2015

Awards and obituaries
Two Children Tell: Little Sal and Rebecca

Virgina Lowe on the impact of a favourite picturebook
Green shoots of Spring: Fine Feather Press

New non-fiction publisher in the spotlight
Books about children’s books

Brian Alderson reviews two books by university teachers.
Classics in Short Number 103

Boys and Girls, Widows and Witches, Snails and Sparrows all baked together in a Peacock Pie
AUTHOR JAMIE BUXTON ON HIS NEW NOVEL TEMPLE BOYS, ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS STORIES IN THE WORLD

Jamie Buxton explains the background to Temple Boys.
A Q& A with Sara Crowe about her debut novel Bone Jack

Sara Crowe answers our questions
NA’IMA B ROBERT INTERVIEW

Na'ima B Robert interviewed by Geraldine Brennan.

Editor's Choice

Hermelin, the Detective Mouse
Mini Grey
(Jonathan Cape)
5

A round cheese box bounces out of a van onto the street. The makers' name on the box is Hermelin. From the moment the book is opened, the reader is presented with clues; clues that lie in the detail of the illustration. How appropriate when the...

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New Talent

The Dark Inside
Rupert Wallis
(Simon & Schuster Childrens Books)
4

Rupert Wallis takes on some big themes in his laudably ambitious debut novel: the mysteries of good and evil, expiation and forgiveness.

The book tells the story of thirteen year old James. James’ mother has been killed in a car accident...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 205

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

Under 5s

  • Hugo the Hare’s Rainy Day
    Jez Alborough
    5

  • Cuckoo!
    Fiona Roberton
    5

  • There’s a Shark in the Bath
    Sarah McIntyre
    4

  • Do Dare Duck
    Joyce Dunbar
    4

  • So Cosy
    Lerryn Korda
    4

  • Hog In The Fog
    Julia Copus
    4

  • Hector and the Big Bad Knight
    Alex T Smith
    4

  • Never ask a Dinosaur to Dinner
    Gareth Edwards
    4

  • There’s a Dinosaur in my Bathtub
    Catalina Echeverri
    4

  • Millie Shares
    Claire Alexander
    3

  • Wimpy Shrimpy
    Matt Buckingham
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Hermelin, the Detective Mouse
    Mini Grey
    5

  • Shh! We have a plan
    Chris Haughton
    5

  • The Promise
    Nicola Davies
    5

  • Ug-A-Lug, Four Cavemen and a Prehistoric Pencil
    Jill Lewis
    5

  • Captain Beastlie’s Pirate Party
    Lucy Coats
    4

  • The Strongest Boy in the World
    Jessica Souhami
    4

  • Watch Out for the Crocodile
    Lisa Moroni
    4

Ages 8-10

  • Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom
    William Sutcliffe
    5

  • Where the Poppies Now Grow
    Hilary Robinson
    5

  • Dear Jelly Family letters from the First World War
    Sarah Ridley
    5

  • Dream On, Amber
    Emma Shevah
    4

  • The Hen who Dreamed She Could Fly
    Sun-Mi Hwang
    4

  • Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy
    Karen Foxlee
    4

  • Dappled Annie and the Tigrish
    Mary McCallum
    4

  • Magic marks the Spot
    Caroline Carlson
    4

  • The Diary of Dennis the Menace
    Steven Butler
    3

  • Eliza Boom: My Explosive Adventure
    Emily Gale
    3

  • The 13th Fairy
    Kaye Umansky
    3

  • The Haunting of Uncle Ron
    Anne Fine
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom
    William Sutcliffe
    5

  • The Colour Book
    Sophie Benini Pietromarchi
    5

  • Monkey and Me
    David Gilman
    5

  • Heart Shaped
    Siobhan Parkinson
    5

  • Dream On, Amber
    Emma Shevah
    4

  • Evie Brooks is Marooned in Manhattan
    Sheila Agnew
    4

  • Rock Wars
    Robert Muchamore
    4

  • Looking at the Stars
    Jo Cotterill
    4

  • Over the Line
    Tom Palmer
    4

  • Tilly’s Promise
    Linda Newbery
    4

  • Curses and smoke: a novel of Pompeii
    Vicky Alvear Shecter
    4

  • The Children of the King
    Sonya Hartnett
    4

  • The Sword of Kuromori
    Jason Rohan
    4

  • The Forbidden Library
    Django Wexler
    4

  • Storm and Stone
    Joss Stirling
    3

  • Little Celeste
    Dawn McNiff
    3

  • What Are We Fighting For?
    Brian Moses
    Roger Stevens
    3

  • The Islands of Chaldea
    Diana Wynne Jones
    Ursula Jones
    3

  • Urban Outlaws
    Peter Jay Black
    3

  • The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone
    Tony Abbott
    3

  • Where The Rock Splits The Sky
    Philip Webb
    3

Ages 14+

  • Grasshopper Jungle
    Andrew Smith
    5

  • Amy and Matthew
    Cammie McGovern
    5

  • Far from You
    Tess Sharpe
    5

  • Never Ending
    Martyn Bedford
    5

  • Blood Family
    Anne Fine
    5

  • The Dark Inside
    Rupert Wallis
    4

  • City of Fate
    Nicola Pierce
    4

  • Rock Wars
    Robert Muchamore
    4

  • Fire and Flood
    Victoria Scott
    4

  • Stella
    Helen Eve
    3

  • Soul Mates
    L A Weatherly
    3

  • Old Dog New Tricks
    Bali Rai
    3

  • Half Bad
    Sally Green
    2

  • Thirteen
    Tom Hoyle
    1

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.

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SHORTLIST FOR THE 2020 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD ANNOUNCED

BBA logo

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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.

read more...
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