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Books for Keeps 224 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 224 - May 2017
BfK 224 May 2017

This issue’s cover illustration features The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd and Emma Shoard. Thanks to Barrington Stoke for their help with this May cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 224 May 2017 .

BfK No. 224 Articles

Editorial 224

Editorial comment
The story of The Pavee and the Buffer Girl

Tony Bradman on the commission that launched the career of Siobhan Dowd.
Celebrating poetry: with the CLiPPA and in the classroom

The CLiPPA 2017
Windows into Illustration: Steve Lenton

Steve Lenton on Let's Find Fred
Authorgraph 224 Elizabeth Wein

Elizabeth Wein interviewed by Anna James
Ten of the Best Books to Introduce Children to Politics

Chosen by author and bookseller Catherine Barter
Rewarding Reads: celebrating the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals

Jake Hope looks back over the celebrated children's book awards
Magic, mother-daughter bonds, and feeling ‘oustiderish’

Michelle Pauli talks to Irena Brignull about The Hawkweed Prophecy
The Mizielinskis under the microscope

Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński in the spotlight
Two children tell: Nicholas and Grendel

Nicholas encounters monsters
I Wish I’d Written: Jason Wallace

Jason Wallace declares Lord of the Flies by far and away the book he wishes he’d written
Good Reads 224

Good Reads chosen by young people at the Hemel Hempstead School, Hemel Hempstead
Classics in Short No. 123: a child’s introduction to The Pilgrim's Progress

Isaac Taylor's Bunyan Explained to a Child
AN INTERVIEW WITH EMMA DONOGHUE

The author of Room interviewed about her debut children's book.
AN INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIEN DE CASTELL

An interview with the author of Spellslinger
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE 2017 KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL WINNER LANE SMITH

Exclusive Books for Keeps interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE 2017 CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER RUTA SEPETYS

An exclusive Books for Keeps interview
AN INTERVIEW WITH RACHEL HICKMAN

Andrea Reece talks to Rachel Hickman about her book One Silver Summer.

Editor's Choice

Virginia Wolf
Kyo Maclear
(Book Island)
5

‘One day my sister Virginia woke up feeling wolfish’. Nothing can change her mood, though sister Vanessa tries and tries. When Virginia finally admits there is something – or rather a somewhere – that will make her feel better, it is up to...

read more

New Talent

Mold and the Poison Plot
Lorraine Gregory
(OUP Oxford)
5

In Mold and the Poison Plot we meet a wonderful new hero with a distinctive voice and an amazing ability to smell out danger. Mold is small and puny, but he has an enormous nose and a big heart.  As a baby, he was found in a...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 224

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

Under 5s

  • Sunk
    Rob Biddulph
    5

  • A Perfect Day
    Lane Smith
    5

  • Quiet!
    Kate Alizadeh
    5

  • Bedtime with Ted
    Sophy Henn
    4

  • Mouse’s Big Day (Twit Twoo School)
    Lydia Monks
    4

  • Tiger Tiger
    Jonny Lambert
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Virginia Wolf
    Kyo Maclear
    5

  • Rabbit & Bear The Pest in the Nest
    5

  • Town is by the Sea
    Joanne Schwartz
    5

  • The Treasure of Pirate Frank
    Mal Peet
    Elspeth Graham
    5

  • Little Lemur Laughing
    Joshua Seigel
    4

  • The Street Beneath My Feet
    Charlotte Guillain
    4

  • All About Ella
    Sally Nicholls
    4

Ages 8-10

  • Mold and the Poison Plot
    Lorraine Gregory
    5

  • A Song for Will - The Lost Gardeners of Heligan
    Hilary Robinson
    5

  • The Little Book of Wetland Bird Sounds
    Andrea Pinnington
    Caz Buckingham
    5

  • Ella Queen of Jazz
    Helen Hancocks
    5

  • The Lotterys Plus One
    Emma Donoghue
    4

  • A Story Like the Wind
    Gill Lewis
    4

  • The Ravenmaster's Boy
    Mary Hoffman
    4

  • Goodly and Grave In a Bad Case of Kidnap
    Justine Windsor
    4

Ages 10-14

  • Small Things
    Mel Tregonning
    5

  • The Pavee and the Buffer Girl
    Siobhan Dowd
    5

  • The Little Book of Wetland Bird Sounds
    Andrea Pinnington
    Caz Buckingham
    5

  • Where the World Ends
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • See How They Lie
    Sue Wallman
    5

  • Out of Heart
    Irfan Master
    4

  • The Ravenmaster's Boy
    Mary Hoffman
    4

  • Anglo-Saxon Boy
    Tony Bradman
    4

  • Wave me Goodbye
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan
    Jack Cheng
    4

  • #Help, my cat’s a vlogging superstar!
    Rae Earl
    4

  • Reaching the Stars
    Jan Dean
    Michaela Morgan
    Liz Brownlee
    3

Ages 14+

  • The Memory Book
    Lara Avery
    5

  • Release
    Patrick Ness
    5

  • The Hate U Give
    Angie Thomas
    5

  • Where the World Ends
    Geraldine McCaughrean
    5

  • Every Hidden Thing
    Kenneth Oppel
    5

  • Out of Heart
    Irfan Master
    4

  • Troublemakers
    Catherine Barter
    4

  • The Girl In Between
    Sarah Carroll
    4

  • I Have No Secrets
    Penny Joelson
    4

  • Beyond the Wall
    Tanya Landman
    4

BfK News

LOLLIES 2018 SHORTLIST THE YEAR’S FUNNIEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Lollies logoMichael Rosen has announced the shortlist for the 2018 Laugh Out Loud Awards (The Lollies). This is the third year of The Lollies, created by Scholastic UK, to celebrate the funniest children’s books.

read more...
ZANIB MIAN WINS 2018 LITTLE REBELS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) has announced that the winner of this year’s Little Rebels Children’s Book Award for Radical Fiction is Zanib Mian for her book, The Muslims, (Sweet Apple Books).

read more...
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...
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