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Books for Keeps 158 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 158 - May 2006

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Simon Bartram’s Up for the Cup! due to be published in September. Simon Bartram is interviewed by Martin Salisbury. Thanks to Templar Publishing for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 158 Articles

Editorial - May 2006

News and comment from the Editor.
Marginalising Essentials

Robert Hull on interventionism in the teaching of English.
Fiction Publishing in the 21st Century

Cally Poplak assesses the potential of iCUE.

A Sailor’s Life for Me

Janet Fisher discusses historical novels about Trafalgar.
Authorgraph No.158: Simon Bartram

Simon Bartram interviewed by Martin Salisbury.
What Happens During Shared Reading?

Vincent Reid explores new research findings.
Hal's Reading Diary - May 2006

Roger Mills on competitive parents.
Good Reads: Stanchester Community School, Stoke Sub Hamdon, Somerset

Reviews from Stanchester Community School, Somerset.
BfK Briefing - May 2006

Awards * Events * Obituary * Letters to the Editor * Competition
Useful Organisations No.44: BRAW

BRAW (Books, Reading and Writing) is the network for the Scottish children’s book.
I Wish I’d Written…The Eclipse of the Century

Kate Thompson chooses Jan Mark's The Eclipse of the Century.
Classics in Short No.57: Nurse Matilda

Brian Alderson on Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda.

Editor's Choice

The Book of Everything
Guus Kuijer
(Young Picador)
5

Have Kuijer’s books been translated before? On the basis of this pithy, short, intensely poetic novel set in the Amsterdam of the 1950s, it would be good to have more of his work in translation.

The bares bones of the story are that 9-year...

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New Talent

The Wind Tamer
P R Morrison
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
4

Archie Stringweed is just ten and a mollycoddled boy whose father, Jeffrey, is very nice but a man who is so anxious that despite collecting travel brochures, he has never dared to venture abroad. The Springweed family motto is ‘Semper fortitudo...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 158

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

Under 5s

  • Ten Steps to Bedtime
    Britta Teckentrup
    5

  • Ouch! I Need a Plaster!
    Nick Sharratt
    5

  • Counting Cockatoos
    Stella Blackstone
    5

  • This Little Chick
    John Lawrence
    4

  • Spookyrumpus
    Tony Mitton
    4

  • Shark in the Park!
    Nick Sharratt
    4

  • Ketchup On Your Cornflakes?
    Nick Sharratt
    4

  • Eric the Red
    Caroline Glicksman
    4

  • This is the Bear
    Sarah Hayes
    Helen Craig
    3

  • Simeon's Gift
    Julie Andrews Edwards
    Emma Walton Hamilton
    3

  • My Mum Goes to Work
    Kes Gray
    3

  • I Love Shapes
    Dr Miriam Stoppard
    3

  • More and More Rabbits
    Nicholas Allan
    2

  • Cleo's Colour Book
    Caroline Mockford
    2

Ages 5-8

  • When a Zeeder Met a Xyder
    Malachy Doyle
    4

  • Oscar and the Frog: A Book about Growing; Oscar and the Moth: A Book about Light and Dark
    Geoff Waring
    4

  • My Map Book
    Sara Fanelli
    4

  • The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon
    Mini Grey
    4

  • My Hat and All That
    Tony Mitton
    3

  • Dinosaur Chase!
    Benedict Blathwayt
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Think of a Number
    Johnny Ball
    5

  • Katie Milk Solves Crimes and so on…
    Annie Caulfield
    5

  • The Penderwicks
    Jeanne Birdsall
    4

  • Clair de Lune
    Cassandra Golds
    4

  • A Bit of Nonsense
    Edward Lear
    4

  • The Wind Tamer
    P R Morrison
    4

  • Transform! How everyday things are made
    Jim Slavin
    3

  • The Story Shop: Stories for Literacy
    3

  • The Midwinters
    Julie Rainsbury
    3

  • A Dog For Life
    L S Matthews
    3

  • Ramose and the Tomb Robbers; Ramose: Prince in Exile
    Carole Wilkinson
    2

  • I Believe in Unicorns
    Michael Morpurgo
    2

  • Flyte (Septimus Heap, Book Two)
    Angie Sage
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Waiting for the Future: Poems by children on poverty and bad housing
    5

  • The Ultimate Teen Book Guide
    5

  • Peace Weavers
    Julia Jarman
    5

  • Once
    Morris Gleitzman
    5

  • The Lottery
    Beth Goobie
    5

  • A Darkling Plain
    Philip Reeve
    5

  • The Book of Everything
    Guus Kuijer
    5

  • Wolf Girl
    Theresa Tomlinson
    4

  • Watching
    Judy Allen
    4

  • Midnighters: The Secret Hour
    Scott Westerfeld
    4

  • Ingo
    Helen Dunmore
    4

  • Flying a Flag for Hitler
    Elsbeth Emmerich
    4

  • The Death Collector
    Justin Richards
    4

  • Charley Feather
    Kate Pennington
    4

  • Venus Spring: Stunt Girl
    Jonny Zucker
    3

  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
    Rick Riordan
    3

  • Payback
    Andy McNab
    Robert Rigby
    3

  • It Didn't Happen
    Sandra Glover
    3

  • Heretic
    Sarah Singleton
    3

  • Boy Band Blues
    Kelly McKain
    3

  • Death of A Princess
    Susan Geason
    2

Ages 14+

  • Tersias
    G P Taylor
    5

  • Silent to the Bone
    E L Konigsburg
    5

  • Let's Get Lost
    Sarra Manning
    5

  • Forged in the Fire
    Ann Turnbull
    5

  • Uglies
    Scott Westerfeld
    4

  • Skin
    A M Vrettos
    4

  • Herman
    Lars Saabye Christensen
    4

  • Thieves Like Us
    Steve Cole
    3

  • Love in Luxor
    Gill Harvey
    3

  • Firestarter
    Catherine Forde
    3

  • The Book of Whispers
    Julie O'Callaghan
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Treasure Islands: Studies in Children's Literature
    4

BfK News

NATASHA FARRANT WINS 2020 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Natasha Farrant

Writer and literary scout Natasha Farrant has won the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award for Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, a book which the judges described as ‘pure heavenly escapism and a purely joyful read.’

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ROBIN WALKER WINS THE 2020 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD FOR BLACK HISTORY MATTERS

The winner of the 2020 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award is Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, From African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter. Written by acclaimed Black historian, Robin Walker, the 2020 judges praised this accessible, comprehensive and inspiring book which provides a timely introduction both to Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement.

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IBBY UK nominate Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2022

IBBY UK has announced that Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee will be the UK nominations for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

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SHORTLIST FOR THE COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Debut authors Darren Charlton and Jenny Pearson join Natasha Farrant and Meg Rosoff on the shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award.

The shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award has been announced. No less than 146 books were submitted and from those the judges have chosen a shortlist of four. They are:

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)

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BOOKTRUST’S REPRESENTS INTERIM RESEARCH & CLPE REFLECTING REALITIES SURVEY 2020

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

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SHORTLIST FOR THE 2021 BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS REVEALED

The six books shortlisted for the 2021 Blue Peter Book Awards have been announced.

Blue Peter Book Award logo

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Happy National Non-Fiction November 2020

It’s National Non-Fiction November! Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, National Non-Fiction November is an annual celebration of the power of non-fiction to inspire children and celebrate readers who have a passion for information and facts. 2020 is the 10th anniversary of National Non-Fiction November.

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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

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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.

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TOM PALMER WINS THE CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Tom Palmer

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