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BfK No. 220 - September 2016
BfK 220 September 2016

This issue’s cover illustration is from Thank You, Mr Panda by Steve Antony. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for their help with this cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 220 September 2016 .

BfK No. 220 Articles

Editorial 220

Comment from the editor
Am I Normal? Exploring mental health issues in YA fiction

Author Holly Bourne on the way YA fiction addresses mental health
Reading Gladiators

Nikki Gamble on a scheme to encourage high attainers
The Wonder of Wilson

Rebecca Butler in conversation with Jacqueline Wilson
Windows into Illustration: Helen Hancocks

It’s raining dogs for Helen Hancocks
Authorgraph Steve Antony

Steve Antony interviewed by Michelle Pauli
Visual Literacy: reading the signs

Piet Grobler on visual codes and symbols in picture books
Ten of the Best Heirs to Roald Dahl

chosen by Nicholas Tucker
Dig into the Story on Scoop

Introducing Scoop the new magazine for children
Independence day

Imogen Russell Williams on books for independent readers
Two Children Tell: Rebecca and Literary Language

Rebecca’s literary language
I Wish I’d Written: Katherine Rundell

The author of The Wolf Wilder chooses Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Introducing the new words & pictures list from Quarto

Quarto’s new list impresses Margaret Mallett
Classics in Short No 118 Old Possum and his Cats

If Or Perhaps Or But: Old Possum and his Cats
AN INTERVIEW WITH JANE HISSEY

Jane Hissey talks Old Bear with Ferelith Hordon.
AN INTERVIEW WITH KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE WINNER NICHOLAS JOHN FRITH

The winer of the inaugural Klaus Flugge Prize talks to Michelle Pauli
AN INTERVIEW WITH SANTA MONTEFIORE

Santa Montefiore introduces The Royal Rabbits of London.
AN INTERVIEW WITH LEIGH HOBBS, AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN’S LAUREATE

Ferelith Hordon chats to the creator of Old Tom, Mr Chicken and Mr Badger

Editor's Choice

Hiding Heidi
Fiona Woodcock
(Simon & Schuster Children's UK)
0

Heidi has a special talent, and the young reader meeting Heidi as she lies on the sofa will quickly guess what it is; Heidi is good at hiding. Her clothes always match her background. However, always being the best can prove unsatisfactory....

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New Talent

Cogheart
Peter Bunzl
(Usborne Publishing Ltd)
4

When Lily’s deportment teacher confiscates the magazine she’s reading telling her it has no educational value at all Lily replies, ‘It teaches piracy and air combat.’ ‘And what young lady needs to know that?’ asks her teacher. Actually it turns...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 220

  • Under 5s
  • Ages 5-8
  • Ages 8-10
  • Ages 10-14
  • Ages 14+

Under 5s

  • There's an Owl in my Towel
    Julia Donaldson
    5

  • Animal Surprises
    Nicola Davies
    5

  • The Lonely Giant
    Sophie Ambrose
    5

  • Watch out for Muddy Puddles
    Ben Faulks
    4

  • Nothing! Yasmeen Ismail
    Yasmeen Ismail
    4

  • The Greedy Goat
    Petr Horácek
    4

  • Hiding Heidi
    Fiona Woodcock
    0

Ages 5-8

  • Oi Dog!
    Kes Gray
    Claire Gray
    5

  • D is for Duck
    David Melling
    5

  • Don’t Cross the Line!
    Isabel Minhós Martins
    5

  • Billy Button: Telegram Boy
    Sally Nicholls
    5

  • The Cat and the King
    Nick Sharratt
    5

  • Paws McDraw
    Connah Brecon
    4

  • Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam The Diamond Chase
    Tracey Corderoy
    4

  • The Truth According to Arthur
    Tim Hopgood
    4

  • Dog on a Digger
    Kate Prendergast
    3

  • The Secret Railway
    Wendy Meddour
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Great Fire of London
    Emma Adams
    5

  • Cats and Curses: Marsh Road Mysteries
    Elen Caldecott
    4

  • Cogheart
    Peter Bunzl
    4

  • The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop
    Clare Balding
    4

  • Crimson Poison
    Susan Moore
    4

  • In Focus: 101 Close-ups, Cross sections, Cutaways
    Libby Walden
    4

  • Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World
    Kate Pankhurst
    4

  • Invisible Inc.
    Steve Cole
    4

  • The Accidental Pirates Voyage to Magical North
    Claire Fayers
    4

  • Missing Arabella
    Kathryn Siebel
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Binny Bewitched
    Hilary McKay
    5

  • Geis: A Matter of Life and Death
    Alexis Deacon
    5

  • The Bone Sparrow
    Zana Fraillon
    5

  • The Creeping Shadow
    Jonathan Stroud
    5

  • A Very Good Chance
    Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
    5

  • Time after Time
    Judi Curtin
    5

  • A Child of Books
    Oliver Jeffers
    Sam Winston
    4

  • Born Scared
    Kevin Brooks
    4

  • Swimming to the Moon
    Jane Elson
    4

  • The Wrong Train
    Jeremy De Quidt
    4

  • Lydia. The Wild Girl of Pride & Prejudice
    Natasha Farrant
    4

  • Booked
    Kwame Alexander
    4

  • Kings of the Boyne
    Nicola Pierce
    4

Ages 14+

  • The Stars at Oktober Bend
    Glenda Millard
    5

  • What’s a Girl Gotta Do?
    Holly Bourne
    5

  • Beck
    Mal Peet
    Meg Rosoff
    5

  • Bad Blood: Part 1
    Jane Brittan
    5

  • Here I Stand: Stories that Speak for Freedom
    Amnesty International
    4

  • How Not To Disappear
    Clare Furniss
    4

  • Cuckoo
    Keren David
    4

  • Nothing Tastes as Good
    Claire Hennessy
    4

BfK News

SHORTLIST FOR THE 2018 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The shortlist for the 2018 Klaus Flugge Prize has been revealed. Set up to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and a key figure in children’s picture books, this important new award, now in its third year, is for the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

read more...
THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

THE 2018 LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST

Conflicts, Class and Youth Protest

Islamophobia, young people’s activism, the Syrian conflict, challenges to gendered occupations, the English class system and workers’ pay and conditions are just some of the subjects highlighted by the 8-strong shortlist for this year’s Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction.

read more...
DEBUT AUTHORS AND THEIR EDITORS ON 2018 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the 2018 Branford Boase Award has been announced. The Branford Boase Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

BBA shortlist 2018

read more...
CLiPPA 2018 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2018 shortlist for the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Established in 2003, the CLiPPA encourages and celebrates outstanding poetry published for children and has done a huge amount to encourage the publishing of children’s poetry.

read more...
THE HATE U GIVE WINS WATERSTONES CHILDREN’S BOOK PRIZE 2018

Angie ThomasWCBP logo

read more...
SHORTLISTS FOR 2018 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

CILIP CKG logo

The shortlists for the 2018 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, are announced today, Thursday 15th March.

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018

The Children’s Book Award 2018 shortlist has been announced. Among those shortlisted are this year’s Costa Children’s Book Award winner Katherine Rundell and previously shortlisted author illustrator Jan Fearnley.

read more...
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2018

The Wizards of Once

The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell and Real-Life Mysteries written by Susan Martineau, illustrated by Vicky Barker, have been revealed as this year’s Blue Peter Book Award winners.

read more...
2018 HENRIETTA BRANFORD WRITING COMPETITION NOW OPEN

Young writers invited to finish a story started by 2017 Branford Boase Award winner, Beetle Boy author M. G. Leonard

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, the annual competition for young people which runs in conjunction with the Branford Boase Award, is now open.

read more...
LONGLIST FOR THE 2018 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

KFP logoFifteen debut picture books are in the running for the 2018 Klaus Flugge Prize. Now in its third year the prize was set up to honour publisher Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and a supremely influential figure in picture books.

This year more than fifty books were submitted for consideration from eleven different publishers.

read more...
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