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Books for Keeps 103 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 103 - March 1997

Cover Story
The cover of this issue is a design incorporating illustrations from four books illustrated by the subject of our Authorgraph, Ian Beck. The top left illustration is from Five Little Ducks (Orchard), the top right from Poppy and Pip's Picnic (to be published Autumn '97 by HarperCollins), the bottom left from The Owl and the Pussy-cat (Transworld) and the bottom right from Home Before Dark (to be published September '97 by Scholastic). Ian Beck's Picture Book (Hippo) is reviewed in this issue.
Beck talks to BfK's interviewer, Julia Eccleshare, also in this issue. His distinctive decorative style with its sensitive pen line and cross hatching has a nostalgic but sometimes also a surreal quality - he describes it as 'a look that is floating, strong and wistful all at the same time'.

Thanks to Orchard, HarperCollins, Transworld and Scholastic for their help in producing this composite cover.

BfK No. 103 Articles

Editorial – March 1997

News and comment from the Editor.
At Mother’s (or Father’s) Knee

Deborah Maby on preschoolers who are ready to read.
Good? Good as? Good for...?

Peter Hunt discusses criteria for book selection.
Publishing Profiles No.2: The Production Manager

Liz Attenborough goes behind the scenes in publishing.
Authorgraph No.103: Ian Beck

Ian Beck interviewed by Julia Eccleshare
BfK Briefing – March 1997

News * Events * Awards * Obituary * Poetry Best Seller Charts * Letters to the Editor
Good Reads: Coalway Junior School, Gloucestershire

Reviews from pupils of Coalway Junior School, Gloucestershire.
Classics in Short No.2: Five Children and It

Helen Levene on E Nesbit's Five Children and It.

Editor's Choice

Disguises and Surprises
Claire Llewellyn
(Walker Books Ltd)
5

The soil is crawling with earthworms. There could easily be a million in an area the size of your school games pitch.

Although they feel rubbery, worms are actually covered with hundreds of tiny bristles. The bristles help them to...

read more

New Talent

Creepers
Keith Gray
(Mammoth)
5

I clenched and unclenched my fists, my heart was beating fast fast. I looked at my best friend and saw his freckles and characteristic grin riding high. If I could make the distance with anyone it was Jamie. I was glad he was here, I wouldn...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 103

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

Under 5s

  • What Newt Could Do for Turtle
    Jonathan London
    4

  • Cinderella
    Prue Theobalds
    4

  • Michael's Monsters
    Gus Clarke
    4

  • Ian Beck's Picture Book
    Ian Beck
    4

  • A Cheese and Tomato Spider
    Nick Sharratt
    3

  • Little Elephant Thunderfoot
    Sally Grindley
    3

  • The Bad Day ABC
    Hilda Offen
    3

  • Lottie's Letter
    Gordon Snell
    3

  • The Treasure Hunt
    Nick Butterworth
    3

  • Mrs Pig Gets Cross ¦ Wicked William
    Mary Rayner
    3

  • Chanting Rhymes ¦ Action Rhymes ¦ Finger Rhymes ¦ Counting Rhymes
    3

  • Papa, please get the moon for me
    Eric Carle
    3

  • Let's Look Inside the Yellow Truck ¦ Let's Look Inside the Red Car
    Amanda Leslie
    3

  • Charlie's Choice
    Nicola Smee
    3

  • Dem Bones
    Bob Barner
    2

  • Sweetapple Farm
    Wendy Smith
    1

Ages 5-8

  • The Orchard Book of Irish Fairy Tales and Legends
    Una Leavy
    5

  • Disguises and Surprises
    Claire Llewellyn
    5

  • Wings, Stings and Wriggly Things
    Martin Jenkins
    5

  • The Orchard Book of Stories from the Seven Seas
    Pomme Clayton
    4

  • The King of Ireland's Son
    Brendan Behan
    4

  • Mr MacMurdo's Guide to Ghostkeeping
    Gerald Hawksley
    4

  • Too Much Talk
    Angela Shelf Medearis
    4

  • The Sea of Tranquility
    Mark Haddon
    4

  • Tales of Trotter Street
    Shirley Hughes
    4

  • Food ¦ Clothes & Uniforms
    Kath Cox
    Pat Hughes
    3

  • The Five Sisters
    Margaret Mahy
    3

  • Sulky Suzy/Jittery Jack
    Joan Lingard
    3

  • Hogsel and Gruntel
    Dick King-Smith
    3

  • Minty; Freedom Child of the Sea
    Alan Schroeder
    3

  • Cloudland
    John Burningham
    3

  • Take Care On Your Own ¦ Take Care Near Water
    Carole Wale
    1

  • The Animals of Paradise
    Noura Durkee
    0

Ages 8-10

  • Clockwork or All Wound Up
    Philip Pullman
    5

  • The Terrible Trins
    Dick King-Smith
    5

  • Chuck and Danielle
    Peter Dickinson
    5

  • Secret Friends
    Elizabeth Laird
    5

  • Wayland Atlas of Threatened Cultures
    4

  • Virtual World
    Chris Westwood
    4

  • Pictures in the Dark
    Gillian Cross
    4

  • Daughter of the Sea
    Berlie Doherty
    4

  • Oxford Children's Encyclopedia
    4

  • The World of the Medieval Knight
    Christopher Gravett
    4

  • We Animals Would Like a Word with You
    John Agard
    4

  • The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
    Jeremy Strong
    4

  • Daft Jack and the Bean Stack ¦ Cinderboy
    Laurence Anholt
    4

  • The 20th Century
    Terry Deary
    3

  • Metropolis
    Albert Lorenz
    Joy Schleh
    3

  • Bypass
    Anthony Masters
    3

  • Similon
    Kathryn Cave
    3

  • Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?
    Paula Danziger
    3

  • Superstructures
    Mike Corbishley
    3

  • Belly Flop
    Morris Gleitzman
    3

  • Creep and Chase
    Ruth Dowley
    3

  • Crocodile Tears
    Marjorie Ann Watts
    3

  • Connie and the Water Babies
    Jacqueline Wilson
    3

  • Charlie the Champion Traveller
    Hazel Townson
    3

  • Claude Monet ¦ Emmeline Pankhurst ¦ Frederic Chopin ¦ Isambard Kingdom Brunel ¦ Vincent van Gogh
    John Malam
    2

  • Robert Burns: Maker of Rhymes
    Elisabeth Jane McNair
    2

  • What Do We Know about Plains Indians? ¦ What Do We Know about Prehistoric People?
    Colin Taylor
    1

  • The Complete Poetical Works of Phoebe Flood
    John Whitworth
    1

Ages 10-14

  • Escape
    June Oldham
    5

  • Creepers
    Keith Gray
    5

  • Death or Glory Boys ¦ Broken Bridge
    Theresa Breslin
    4

  • The Car
    Gary Paulsen
    4

  • Listen to the Dark
    Maeve Henry
    4

  • The Spark Gap
    Julie Bertagna
    4

  • Sex Matters
    Julian Cohen
    3

  • The Vision
    Pete Johnson
    3

BfK News

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.

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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.

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JESSICA LOVE NAMED WINNER OF THE KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE 2019 FOR JULIAN IS A MERMAID

Jessica Love

read more...
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

read more...
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

read more...
CRESSIDA COWELL ANNOUNCED AS NEW WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

‘Books are transformative because of their unique ability to develop three key magical powers: intelligence, creativity and, most important of all, empathy. Words are power; let’s take magic seriously.’ Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

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STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

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