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Books for Keeps 224 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 224 - May 2017
BfK 224 May 2017

This issue’s cover illustration features The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd and Emma Shoard. Thanks to Barrington Stoke for their help with this May cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 224 May 2017 .

BfK No. 224 Articles

Editorial 224

Editorial comment
The story of The Pavee and the Buffer Girl

Tony Bradman on the commission that launched the career of Siobhan Dowd.
Celebrating poetry: with the CLiPPA and in the classroom

The CLiPPA 2017
Windows into Illustration: Steve Lenton

Steve Lenton on Let's Find Fred
Authorgraph 224 Elizabeth Wein

Elizabeth Wein interviewed by Anna James
Ten of the Best Books to Introduce Children to Politics

Chosen by author and bookseller Catherine Barter
Rewarding Reads: celebrating the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals

Jake Hope looks back over the celebrated children's book awards
Magic, mother-daughter bonds, and feeling ‘oustiderish’

Michelle Pauli talks to Irena Brignull about The Hawkweed Prophecy
The Mizielinskis under the microscope

Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński in the spotlight
Two children tell: Nicholas and Grendel

Nicholas encounters monsters
I Wish I’d Written: Jason Wallace

Jason Wallace declares Lord of the Flies by far and away the book he wishes he’d written
Good Reads 224

Good Reads chosen by young people at the Hemel Hempstead School, Hemel Hempstead
Classics in Short No. 123: a child’s introduction to The Pilgrim's Progress

Isaac Taylor's Bunyan Explained to a Child
AN INTERVIEW WITH EMMA DONOGHUE

The author of Room interviewed about her debut children's book.
AN INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIEN DE CASTELL

An interview with the author of Spellslinger
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE 2017 KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER LANE SMITH

Exclusive Books for Keeps interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE 2017 CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER RUTA SEPETYS

An exclusive Books for Keeps interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL HICKMAN

Andrea Reece talks to Rachel Hickman about her book One Silver Summer.

Editor's Choice

Virginia Wolf
Kyo Maclear
(Book Island)
5

‘One day my sister Virginia woke up feeling wolfish’. Nothing can change her mood, though sister Vanessa tries and tries. When Virginia finally admits there is something – or rather a somewhere – that will make her feel better, it is up to...

read more

New Talent

Mold and the Poison Plot
Lorraine Gregory
(OUP Oxford)
5

In Mold and the Poison Plot we meet a wonderful new hero with a distinctive voice and an amazing ability to smell out danger. Mold is small and puny, but he has an enormous nose and a big heart.  As a baby, he was found in a...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 224

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

Under 5s

  • Sunk
    Rob Biddulph
    5

  • A Perfect Day
    Lane Smith
    5

  • Quiet!
    Kate Alizadeh
    5

  • Bedtime with Ted
    Sophy Henn
    4

  • Mouse’s Big Day (Twit Twoo School)
    Lydia Monks
    4

  • Tiger Tiger
    Jonny Lambert
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Virginia Wolf
    Kyo Maclear
    5

  • Rabbit & Bear The Pest in the Nest
    5

  • Town is by the Sea
    Joanne Schwartz
    5

  • The Treasure of Pirate Frank
    Mal Peet
    Elspeth Graham
    5

  • Little Lemur Laughing
    Joshua Seigel
    4

  • The Street Beneath My Feet
    Charlotte Guillain
    4

  • All About Ella
    Sally Nicholls
    4

Ages 8-10

  • Mold and the Poison Plot
    Lorraine Gregory
    5

  • A Song for Will - The Lost Gardeners of Heligan
    Hilary Robinson
    5

  • The Little Book of Wetland Bird Sounds
    Andrea Pinnington
    Caz Buckingham
    5

  • Ella Queen of Jazz
    Helen Hancocks
    5

  • The Lotterys Plus One
    Emma Donoghue
    4

  • A Story Like the Wind
    Gill Lewis
    4

  • The Ravenmaster's Boy
    Mary Hoffman
    4

  • Goodly and Grave In a Bad Case of Kidnap
    Justine Windsor
    4

Ages 10-14

  • Small Things
    Mel Tregonning
    5

  • The Pavee and the Buffer Girl
    Siobhan Dowd
    5

  • The Little Book of Wetland Bird Sounds
    Andrea Pinnington
    Caz Buckingham
    5

  • Where the World Ends
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • See How They Lie
    Sue Wallman
    5

  • Out of Heart
    Irfan Master
    4

  • The Ravenmaster's Boy
    Mary Hoffman
    4

  • Anglo-Saxon Boy
    Tony Bradman
    4

  • Wave me Goodbye
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan
    Jack Cheng
    4

  • #Help, my cat’s a vlogging superstar!
    Rae Earl
    4

  • Reaching the Stars
    Jan Dean
    Michaela Morgan
    Liz Brownlee
    3

Ages 14+

  • The Memory Book
    Lara Avery
    5

  • Release
    Patrick Ness
    5

  • The Hate U Give
    Angie Thomas
    5

  • Where the World Ends
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • Every Hidden Thing
    Kenneth Oppel
    5

  • Out of Heart
    Irfan Master
    4

  • Troublemakers
    Catherine Barter
    4

  • The Girl In Between
    Sarah Carroll
    4

  • I Have No Secrets
    Penny Joelson
    4

  • Beyond the Wall
    Tanya Landman
    4

Books About Children's Books

  • 'Over the Hills and Far Away'; the life of Beatrix Potter
    Matthew Dennison
    3

BfK News

HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

read more...
FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
PATRICE LAWRENCE AND DARREN CHETTY TO JUDGE 2019 LITTLE REBELS AWARD

Little Rebels prize logoAward-winning YA author Patrice Lawrence and Books for Keeps contributor Darren Chetty have been named as judges of the 2019 Little Rebels Award. The Little Rebels Award celebrates children’s books for readers age 0-12 which promote social equality and social justice.

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SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

read more...
NOMINATIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE & KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS 2019

Nominations have been published for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the country's oldest children’s book awards.

read more...
‘SHARE A STORY’ AT THE HEART OF WORLD BOOK DAY 2019

Lauren Child WBD coverSnap by Patrice Lawrence

read more...
Refugee Story wins Klaus Flugge Prize for consecutive year

Kate Milner has won the 2018 Klaus Flugge Prize for the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. She won for her book My Name is Not Refugee (Barrington Stoke), which follows a young boy as he and his mother set out from their home to find somewhere safe to live.

read more...
UKLA BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2018

UKLA logos

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