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Books for Keeps 130 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 130 - September 2001

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from Raymond Briggs and Allan Ahlberg’s The Adventures of Bert. Raymond Briggs and Allan Ahlberg discuss their creative collaboration. Thanks to Puffin Children’s Books for their help with this September cover.

BfK No. 130 Articles

Editorial - September 2001

News and comment from the Editor.
The Other Side of Truth

Beverley Naidoo's Carnegie Medal acceptance speech.
The Carnegie and Greenaway Medals

Rosemary Stones on this year's shortlists and winners.
Jack’s First Books - September 2001

Gary McKeone continues his baby son's reading diary.
The Adventures of Bert: ‘A creative dialogue’

Raymond Briggs and Allan Ahlberg discuss their latest enterprise.
Authorgraph No.130: Aidan Chambers

Aidan Chambers interviewed by Geoff Fox.
Harry Potter's Power to Enchant

Margaret Rustin on why children love reading Harry.
Children's Book Reviewing on the Web

Clive Barnes on sites that offer book reviews.
BfK Briefing - September 2001

Events * Awards * Obituaries * Letters to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.17: Children's Books Ireland

Promotes excellence in children's literature via a magazine, publications, events and book awards.
I Wish I’d Written… The Mousehole Cat

Julia Jarman chooses Antonia Barber's The Mousehole Cat.
Good Reads: De La Salle College

Reviews from pupils of De La Salle College, St Saviour, Jersey.
Classics in Short No.29: Winnie-the-Pooh

Brian Alderson on A A Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

Editor's Choice

Deal With It!
Esther Drill
Heather McDonald
Rebecca Odes
(Pocket Books)
5

Subtitled 'a hot new approach to your body, brain and life as a girl' this large format paperback with its shocking pink, die cut double cover that opens to reveal a girl flashing you (although modestly wearing bra and pants), breaks new ground...

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New Talent

Lettice, The Dancing Rabbit
Mandy Stanley
(HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)
4

Lettice Rabbit decides she wants to be a dancer 'more than anything else in the world' and she leaves her comfortable hill top life with all the other bunnies for the town where she finds a ballet class. The teacher is amazed by Lettice's...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 130

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

Under 5s

  • Next Please
    Ernst Jandl
    Norman Junge
    5

  • The Snail House
    Allan Ahlberg
    5

  • How Scary!
    Bernard Lodge
    4

  • I'm not your Friend
    Sam McBratney
    4

  • Lettice, The Dancing Rabbit
    Mandy Stanley
    4

  • Cowboy Kid
    Max Eilenberg
    4

  • Ebb and Flo and the Baby Seal
    Jane Simmons
    4

  • Here Come Poppy and Max ¦ When Poppy and Max Grow Up
    Lindsey Gardiner
    4

  • Lulu's Holiday
    Caroline Uff
    3

  • The Night You Were Born
    Wendy McCormick
    3

  • Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day
    Jamie Lee Curtis
    3

  • Bear's First Bible
    Linda Parry
    3

  • Jen the Hen's Big Book
    Colin Hawkins
    Jacqui Hawkins
    3

  • I am NOT sleepy and I WILL NOT go to bed
    Lauren Child
    3

  • Run, Rabbit, Run
    Christine Morton
    3

  • Nursery School with Teddy Bear ¦ Pets' Corner with Teddy Bear
    Jacqueline McQuade
    3

  • Jamie
    Clare Jarrett
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Dinomania Things to do with Dinosaurs
    Mick Manning
    4

  • The Man Who Wore All His Clothes
    Allan Ahlberg
    4

  • Back-to-Front Benjy
    Dick King-Smith
    3

  • Never Steal Wheels from a Dog
    David Henry Wilson
    3

  • Ms Wiz - Millionaire
    Terence Blacker
    3

  • Ghost Bird
    Mary Arrigan
    3

  • Police Cat Fuzz Rides Again!
    Karen Wallace
    3

  • The Musicians of Bremen ¦ King Herla's Ride ¦ The Pedlar of Swaffham ¦ Beauty and the Beast ¦ The Little Mermaid
    Ann Jungman
    3

  • Lion Children's Favourites: 30 Bible Stories and Prayers
    3

  • Captain Pugwash
    John Ryan
    2

Ages 8-10

  • Journey to the River Sea
    Eva Ibbotson
    5

  • The Great Blue Yonder
    Alex Shearer
    5

  • Sleepovers
    Jacqueline Wilson
    5

  • Charm School
    Anne Fine
    4

  • The Facts About Asthma; The Facts About Epilepsy
    Claire Llewellyn
    4

  • Night of the Haunted Trousers
    Susan Gates
    4

  • John Bunyon's A Pilgrim's Progress
    4

  • The Hunger: The Diary of Phyllis McCormack, Ireland 1845-1847; The Crystal Palace: The Diary of Lily Hicks, London 1850-1851; Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Anne Brady, 1912; Blitz: The Diary of Edie Benson, London 1940-1941
    Carol Drinkwater
    3

  • My Best Book of Volcanoes; My Best Book of Big Cats
    Simon Adams
    3

  • The Kingfisher Atlas of the World
    Philip Steele
    2

  • Roger McGough; Robert Louis Stevenson
    Chris Powling
    2

  • Stories of the Saints
    Joyce Denham
    2

  • The Glory Ashes
    Bob Cattell
    2

Ages 10-14

  • His Dark Materials The Amber Spyglass
    Philip Pullman
    5

  • Deal With It!
    Esther Drill
    Heather McDonald
    Rebecca Odes
    5

  • Out of Bounds
    Beverley Naidoo
    5

  • Very Different
    Anne Fine
    5

  • The Beguilers
    Kate Thompson
    4

  • Heathrow Nights
    Jan Mark
    4

  • The Brimstone Journals
    Ron Koertge
    4

  • Artemis Fowl
    Eoin Colfer
    4

  • Rescuing Dad
    Pete Johnson
    4

  • The New Faber Book of Children's Verse
    4

  • Playing Beatie Bow
    Ruth Park
    4

  • Monster Mission
    Eva Ibbotson
    4

  • Spellfall
    Katherine Roberts
    4

  • Face to Face
    Sandra Glover
    3

  • Summertime Blues
    Julia Clarke
    3

  • Storm Catchers
    Tim Bowler
    3

  • Backyard Science; Kitchen Science
    Christopher Maynard
    3

  • The Life of Stephen Lawrence
    Verna Wilkins
    3

  • Poets of the First World War
    Nicola Barber
    Patrick Lee-Browne
    3

  • The Black Dogs of Doom
    Anthony Masters
    3

  • The Kingdom by the Sea
    Robert Westall
    3

  • No Fire, No Candle
    Mary Oldham
    3

  • The Afterdark series: The Afterdark Princess; The Dream Snatcher (The Afterdark series); The Midnight Museum (The Afterdark series)
    Annie Dalton
    3

  • Red Velvet
    Carol Hedges
    3

  • Jigsaw
    Carol Hedges
    3

  • Tribes
    Catherine MacPhail
    3

  • Ultraviolet
    Lesley Howarth
    3

  • Mary Queen of Scots and her Hopeless Husbands
    Margaret Simpson
    3

  • Going to Egypt
    Helen Dunmore
    3

  • Why do People Join Gangs?
    Julie Johnson
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Children’s Literature and National Identity
    Margaret Meek
    3

BfK News

EMPATHYLAB ANNOUNCES 2020 READ FOR EMPATHY BOOK COLLECTION

Raising A Generation of Empathic Citizens

Empathy Day logo

read more...
JASBINDER BILAN WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH HER DEBUT NOVEL

Jasbinder Bilan

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2019: SHORTLIST FEATURES

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award alongside newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing.

Costa Book Awards logo

Click the links below to read new Books for Keeps feature articles on each of the shortlisted authors.

read more...
THE IBBY LIST OF OUSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Dr Rebecca Butler writes.

Readers of Books for Keeps will remember that IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) arranges every two years a competition to identify the very best books for young readers featuring disability or designed to be read by young people with disabilities. Last time this list was compiled in 2017/18 I was the coordinator for the UK section.

read more...
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

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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...
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