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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....

read more

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

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

read more...
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...
MUHAMMAD KHAN WINS 20TH BRANFORD BOASE AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut novel for children is Muhammad Khan for his YA novel I Am Thunder. Set up in memory of author Henrietta Branford and her editor Wendy Boase who both died in 1999, the award also recognizes his editor Lucy Pearse of Macmillan Children’s Books.

read more...
SLA School Librarian of the Year 2019 Announced

Ros Harding School Librarian of the Year

Ros Harding of The King’s School Chester has been awarded the honour of the School Librarian of the Year 2019. 2019 YA Book Prize winner Sara Barnard presented Ros Harding with her award at a special ceremony at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington, London Kensington on 27 June.

read more...
The Children's Book Award 2019

Earlier this month, Arree Chung was named overall winner of The Children’s Book Award 2019. His book Mixed, which he wrote and illustrated, also won the Books for Younger Children category before going on to win the overall prize.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The winners of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced at a ceremony at The British Library, hosted by broadcaster and writer Konnie Huq.

read more...
BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

The children’s authors to watch: shortlist for the 2019 Branford Boase Award announced

Branford Boase Award shortlist 2019

read more...
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