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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
(AVA Publishing SA)
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...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 224

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

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

Books About Children's Books

  • 'Over the Hills and Far Away'; the life of Beatrix Potter
    Matthew Dennison
    3

BfK News

ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS’ GREAT ADVENTURERS WINS THE 2019 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2019 Educational Writers’ Award is Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers: The Incredible Expeditions of 20 Explorers (Big Picture Press).

Alastair Humphreys Great Adventures

read more...
BLACKMAN AND DOWNHAM ON SHORTLIST FOR 2019 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Former Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and acclaimed author Jenny Downham are on the shortlist for the 2019 Costa Children’s Book Award, which was announced today, 26th November 2020. Alongside them on the list are newcomers Jasbinder Bilan and Nicholas Downing, both of whom are published by Chicken House.

The 2019 Costa Children’s Award shortlist

read more...
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

read more...
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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