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Books for Keeps 126 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 126 - January 2001

Cover Story
This issue’s cover, illustrated by David Wyatt, is from Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Kite Rider (0 19 271860 6, £6.99 pbk) due to be published in March. Geraldine McCaughrean is interviewed by Stephanie Nettell. Thanks to Oxford University Press for their help in producing this January cover.

BfK No. 126 Articles

Editorial - January 2001

News and comment from the Editor.
The Proliferation of Modern ‘Classics’

Julia Eccleshare on a new publishing trend.
‘Not Dissimilar to a Folk Tale’

Head chef, Henry Harris, on cookery books for children.
Authorgraph No.126: Geraldine McCaughrean

Geraldine McCaughrean interviewed by Stephanie Nettell.
What Hope for Children’s Poetry?

Robert Hull finds limited choices.
BfK Briefing - January 2001

Awards * Events * Publication * Obituary * Letters to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.13: The Children’s Book Circle

Discussion forum for anyone involved in children's books via newsletter, events and monthly meetings.
I Wish I’d Written... Holes

Kaye Umansky chooses Louis Sachar's Holes.
Good Reads: Stanchester Community School

Reviews from pupils of Stanchester Community School, Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset.
Classics in Short No.25: Pinocchio

Brian Alderson on Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio.

Editor's Choice

Coram Boy
Jamila Gavin
(Mammoth)
5

14-year-old Meshak is thought to be a simpleton but it is this traumastised boy's longing for love and security that leads him to save the life of one of the many illegitimate babies that his sinister father collects from desperate women,...

read more

New Talent

The Curse of the Dolphin
Beth Swinnerton
(Andersen Press Ltd)
4

Kept back at school to do extra homework, best friends Jack and Olly see someone they think is a burglar so they triumphantly save the environment prize - a model dolphin - from the 'burglar's clutches. They realise their mistake too late and a...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 126

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

Under 5s

  • Again!
    John Prater
    5

  • Rocket Countdown
    Nick Sharratt
    5

  • Look! There's Elmer
    David McKee
    5

  • Owen and the Mountain
    Malachy Doyle
    4

  • Once Upon an Everyday
    Toby Forward
    4

  • Harry's Home
    Catherine Anholt
    Laurence Anholt
    4

  • Max
    Bob Graham
    4

  • My Most Favourite Thing
    Nicola Moon
    4

  • Do I have to go to the dentist?
    Diane Louise Jordan
    3

  • Animals Scare Me Stiff
    Babette Cole
    2

  • Incey Wincey Spider
    Frances Cony
    Iain Smith
    2

  • Busy Babies Go to the Gym ¦ Busy Babies Go Swimming ¦ Tiny Trumpet; Ten Sleepy Bunnies ¦ Rocket to the Rescue ¦ The Piggy Race
    Jane Kemp
    Clare Walters
    2

Ages 5-8

  • A Sunday with Grandpa
    Philippe Dupasquier
    5

  • My Uncle is a Hunkle says Clarice Bean
    Lauren Child
    5

  • Ebele's Favourite: A Book of African Games
    Ifeoma Onyefulu
    4

  • Willy's Pictures
    Anthony Browne
    4

  • The Sam Pig Storybook
    Alison Uttley
    4

  • Down in the Dump with Dinsmore; The Too-Tight Tutu; No One; Ginger
    Margaret Mahy
    3

  • The Bedtime Book
    3

  • Madlenka
    Peter Sis
    3

  • little.com
    Ralph Steadman
    3

  • No Worries!
    Marcia Williams
    3

  • Tarquin the Wonder Horse; The Impossible Parents Go Green
    June Crebbin
    1

Ages 8-10

  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    J K Rowling
    5

  • Black Maria
    Diana Wynne Jones
    4

  • The Song of Arthur
    Robert Leeson
    4

  • The Curse of the Dolphin
    Beth Swinnerton
    4

  • The Mum-Minder
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • Enchantment
    Kevin Crossley-Holland
    4

  • Charmed Life
    Diana Wynne Jones
    3

  • House of Ghosts
    Ann Turnbull
    3

  • Adventures in the Middle Ages; Adventures in Ancient Egypt
    Linda Bailey
    2

  • The Green Hawk
    Aeres Twigg
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Coram Boy
    Jamila Gavin
    5

  • Counting Stars
    David Almond
    5

  • Beyond the Bin:The Livewire Guide to Reusing and Recycling
    Jo Budd
    5

  • His Dark Materials I: Northern Lights; His Dark Materials II: The Subtle Knife
    Philip Pullman
    5

  • Billy the Kid
    Michael Morpurgo
    5

  • Born to be Wild: The Livewire Guide to Saving Animals
    Juliet Gellatley
    4

  • Stormbreaker
    Anthony Horowitz
    4

  • Where Were You, Robert?
    Hans Magnus Enzensberger
    4

  • Mahabharata
    Margaret Simpson
    4

  • The Lady and the Squire
    Terry Jones
    4

  • Vicky Angel
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • Do Not Read This Book
    Pat Moon
    4

  • The Ghost Behind the Wall
    Melvin Burgess
    4

  • Great Wonders of the World
    Russell Ash
    3

  • Dear Venny, Dear Saffron
    Gary Crew
    Libby Hathorn
    3

  • Oxford Children's History of the World
    Neil Grant
    3

  • The Romantic Poets; Thomas Hardy
    Nicola Barber
    Patrick Lee-Browne
    3

  • The Tale of Jessica Sweetapple
    Linda Kempton
    3

  • Natasha's Will
    Joan Lingard
    3

  • Silkscreen
    Caroline Pitcher
    3

  • Collins Children's Encyclopedia
    John Farndon
    2

  • How the Future Began: Everyday Life
    Clive Gifford
    2

  • Sick! Bloody Moments in the History of Medicine
    Gael Jennings
    1

Books About Children's Books

  • Words and Pictures
    Quentin Blake
    5

  • Readers Who Don't ... and how to persuade them otherwise
    Chris Powling
    4

  • Enid Blyton and the Mystery of Children's Literature
    David Rudd
    3

  • The Encyclopaedia of School Stories Vol. 1: Girls' School Stories; The Encyclopaedia of School Stories Vol. 2: Boys' School Stories
    Sue Sims
    Hilary Clare
    3

  • The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
    2

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

read more...
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

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

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