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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

JANE PORTER AND MAISIE PARADISE SHEARRING 2020 LITTLE REBELS AWARD WINNERS

Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearring have won the 2020 Little Rebels Award for their picture book The Boy who Loved Everyone. They will share the £2000 prize.

Little Rebels logo 2020

read more...
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

read more...
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.

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