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

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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...

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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...

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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

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

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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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CRESSIDA COWELL ANNOUNCED AS NEW WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

‘Books are transformative because of their unique ability to develop three key magical powers: intelligence, creativity and, most important of all, empathy. Words are power; let’s take magic seriously.’ Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate

read more...
STEVEN CAMDEN WINS CLiPPA 2019

Steven Camden photo by Ellie Kurttz

read more...
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