Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

Books for Keeps 176 - the children's book magazine online

  • View
  • Rearrange

Digital version – browse, print or download

Can't see the preview?
Click here!

How to print the digital edition of Books for Keeps: click on this PDF file link - click on the printer icon in the top right of the screen to print.

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 176 - May 2009

Cover Story

This issue’s cover illustration by Nick Price is from Pongwiffy, Back on Track by Kaye Umansky. Kaye Umansky is interviewed by Julia Eccleshare. Thanks to Bloomsbury for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 176 Articles

Editorial – May 2009

News and comment from the Editor.
Dickens and Nicholas Dane

Melvin Burgess on how Dickens inspired his new novel.
Eric Carle and his Hungry Caterpillar

Joanna Carey discusses his career with Eric Carle.
Digital Developments in Children’s Publishing

Caroline Horn reports on publishers’ response to the digital world.
Wandering Worth Encouraging

Robert Hull argues for a wider range of children’s dictionaries.
Authorgraph No.176: Kaye Umansky

Kaye Umansky interviewed by Julia Eccleshare
Hal’s Reading Diary - May 2009

Roger Mills describes Hal’s interest in creative writing.
Laureate Log - May 2009

Michael Rosen senses curriculum change.
BfK Briefing – May 2009

Awards * Letter to the Editor * Obituary
I Wish I’d Written… The Cartoonist

Sophie McKenzie chooses Betsy Byars’ The Cartoonist.
Good Reads: St Osmund’s C of E Middle School, Dorchester

Reviews from pupils of St Osmund’s C of E Middle School, Dorchester.
Classics in Short No.75: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Brian Alderson on Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Editor's Choice

Ausländer
Paul Dowswell
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

Although he lives in Poland, Peter is volksdeutscher (of German blood) and, with his blond hair and blue eyes, he looks like a perfect Aryan according to the criteria laid down by Nazi racial ideologues. When Peter’s parents are killed...

read more

New Talent

Small Mouse Big City
Simon Prescott
(Little Tiger Press)
4

In his debut picture book, illustrator Simon Prescott offers a witty contemporary take on Aesop’s tale of the town mouse and the country mouse. Country mouse leaves his peaceful rural home and takes the train to the city which takes his breath...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 176

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

Under 5s

  • Monkey Monkey Monkey
    Cathy MacLennan
    5

  • Little Chick
    Amy Hest
    5

  • Curious Clownfish
    Adrienne Kennaway
    Eric Maddern
    4

  • The Quiet Woman and the Noisy Dog
    Sue Eves
    4

  • Small Mouse Big City
    Simon Prescott
    4

  • Happy Birthday Chimp and Zee
    Laurence Anholt
    4

  • Dinosnore!
    John Bendall-Brunello
    4

  • Over in the Clover
    Jan Ormerod
    4

  • Elephant
    Petr Horácek
    4

  • The Baby Dragon-Tamer
    Jan Fearnley
    3

  • Milo Armadillo
    Jan Fearnley
    3

  • The Perfect Baby
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • The Littlest Dinosaur
    Michael Foreman
    3

  • WOW! said the Owl
    Tim Hopgood
    3

  • Time to Say I Love You
    Jane Kemp
    Clare Walters
    3

  • Tilly and Friends: Happy Hector
    Polly Dunbar
    3

Ages 5-8

  • P is for Poland
    Agnieszka Mrówczyńska
    4

  • Rotten Island
    William Steig
    4

  • Dandylion
    Lizzie Finlay
    4

  • I'm Dirty! ¦ I Stink!
    Kate McMullan
    4

  • Wildlife Garden
    Martyn Cox
    3

  • Jake the Good Bad Dog; Jake in Action
    Annette Butterworth
    3

  • The Snow Queen
    3

  • The Terrible Greedy Fossifoo
    Charles Fuge
    3

  • The Dragon Who Couldn't Do Sporty Things
    Anni Axworthy
    3

  • Matty in a Mess!
    Miriam Moss
    3

Ages 8-10

  • What Mr Darwin Saw
    Mick Manning
    Brita Granström
    5

  • Hot Like Fire and Other Poems
    Valerie Bloom
    5

  • Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers
    Philip Caveney
    4

  • Waggit's Tale
    Peter Howe
    4

  • Beyond: A Solar System Voyage
    Michael Benson
    3

  • Why is Muhammad important to Muslims?; How and why do Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Divali?
    Jean Mead
    3

  • An Awfully Beastly Business: Bang Goes a Troll
    The Beastly Boys
    3

  • Creaky Castle: Tom and the Siege
    Tony Bradman
    3

  • Tales from the Keep: The Ferret Princess
    Joan Lennon
    3

  • Zal and Zara and the Great Race of Azamed
    Kit Downes
    2

  • Peter Pan
    Robert Sabuda
    1

Ages 10-14

  • My Secret War Diary, by Flossie Albright
    Marcia Williams
    5

  • Falling
    Sharon Dogar
    5

  • Rowan the Strange
    Julie Hearn
    5

  • Chains
    Laurie Halse Anderson
    5

  • Operation Storm City
    Joshua Mowll
    5

  • Ausländer
    Paul Dowswell
    5

  • Fen Runners
    John Gordon
    5

  • Twister
    Chris Ryan
    4

  • Season of Secrets
    Sally Nicholls
    4

  • The Anarchist's Angel
    Gareth Thompson
    4

  • Torn Pages
    Sally Grindley
    4

  • The Qur'an and Islam; The Ramayana and other Hindu texts
    Anita Ganeri
    3

  • Charles Dickens; Poets of the First World War; William Shakespeare
    Nicola Barber
    Patrick Lee-Browne
    3

  • Frozen in Time
    Ali Sparkes
    3

  • The 13 Treasures
    Michelle Harrison
    3

  • Dream Land
    Lily Hyde
    3

  • White Heat
    K M Grant
    3

  • Blade: Breaking Free
    Tim Bowler
    3

  • Don't Call Us; Liar
    Pat Thomson
    3

  • The Lying Carpet
    David Lucas
    3

  • My Secret Diary
    Jacqueline Wilson
    2

Ages 14+

  • Forbidden Island
    Malcolm Rose
    5

  • The Demon's Lexicon
    Sarah Rees Brennan
    4

  • Just Jealous
    Anne Cassidy
    4

  • Crossing the Line
    Gillian Philip
    4

  • The Ant Colony
    Jenny Valentine
    4

  • Winter Song
    Jean-Claude Mourlevat
    3

  • Scatterheart
    Lili Wilkinson
    3

  • Furnace: Lockdown
    Alexander Gordon Smith
    3

  • The One and Only
    Sophie McKenzie
    3

  • The Society of S
    Susan Hubbard
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • 101 Ways to get your Child to Read
    Patience Thomson
    2

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.’

read more...
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.

read more...
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.

read more...
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)

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

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

read more...
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

read more...
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.

read more...
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

read more...
more
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account