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Books for Keeps 235 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 235 - March 2019
BfK 235 March 2019

This issue’s cover illustration features The Curious Science Quest series by Julia Golding with Andrew Briggs and Roger Wagner, illustrated by Brett Hudson. Thanks to Lion Children’s Books for their help with this March cover.
Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 235 March 2019.

BfK No. 235 Articles

Editorial 235

Guest Editorial by former Waterstones Children’s Laureate Anne Fine
EmpathyLab 2019

An update from EmpathyLab founder Miranda McKearney
The LGBTQI+ Novel Comes Of Age

Michael Lee Richardson celebrates the best new writing for young LGBTQI+ readers.
Authorgraph 235: Julia Golding

Julia Golding interviewed by Imogen Russell Williams
Twenty-Seven of the Best: A Personal Reading Journey

Daniel Hahn takes a personal reading journey round Europe

Windows into Illustration: Laura Hughes

Laura Hughes

Beyond the Secret Garden Protest and the British Children’s Book

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor find rebellion and riot in children’s literature.
I Wish I’d Written: Matt Brown

Matt Brown chooses
Good Reads 235

Chosen by Cannon Park Primary School, Coventry
Two Children Tell: Rebecca and Nicholas recognise an illustrator’s style

Rebecca and Nicholas and Lucy and Tom
Happy Anniversary to The Blue Balloon

Mick Inpen is celebrating!
Classics in Short No. 134 The strange fate of Rip Van Winkle

Brian Alderson contemplates Rip Van Winkle’s unlucky encounter with the fairies.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DANNY WALLACE

Comedian Danny Wallace explains why Brexit helped inspire the ultimate threat in his brand new book.

Editor's Choice

Wisp: A Story of Hope
Zana Fraillon
(Orchard Books)
5

Idris’s home is surrounded by barbed wire, a place where people have retreated into themselves. When the Wisp arrives, blown in on the wind, it is only Idris who sees it and feels its need - a need to unlock the memories of the people who have...

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New Talent

Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
Humza Arshad
Henry White
(Puffin)
5

Humza Khan is a 12-year-old ninja-rapper-gangster with huge plans for his future. Unfortunately, he also suffers from debilitating stage fright and has the ‘greatest cricket coach Pakistan has ever known’ for a father, which means that his...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 235

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

Under 5s

  • The Truth About Old People
    Elina Ellis
    4
  • Aalfred and Aalbert

    Aalfred and Aalbert
    Morag Hood
    4
  • The Green Giant

    The Green Giant
    Katie Cottle
    4
  • All the Ways to Be Smart

    All the Ways to be Smart
    Davina Bell
    4
  • Bear Moves

    Bear Moves
    Ben Bailey Smith
    4
  • Rosie is my Best Friend

    Rosie is my Best Friend
    Ali Pye
    4

  • Me and My Sister
    Rose Robbins
    4

  • Maisie’s Scrapbook
    Samuel Narh
    4

Ages 5-8

  • Wisp: A Story of Hope
    Zana Fraillon
    5

  • Two Sides
    Polly Ho-Yen
    5

  • Goldilocks (A Hashtag Cautionary Tale)
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • Harold Snipperpot’s Best Disaster Ever
    Beatrice Alemagna
    4

  • Mummy’s Suitcase
    Pip Jones
    4

  • Me and My Sister
    Rose Robbins
    4

  • Maisie’s Scrapbook
    Samuel Narh
    4

  • Wishing for a Dragon
    Becky Cameron
    4
  • The Dinosaur Department Store

    The Dinosaur Department Store
    Lily Murray
    Richard Merrit
    3

  • Little Rabbit’s Big Surprise
    Swapna Haddow
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The Midnight Hour
    Benjamin Read
    Laura Trinder
    5

  • The Steam Whistle Theatre Company
    Vivian French
    5

  • Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties
    Humza Arshad
    Henry White
    5

  • The Star-spun Web
    Sinéad O’Hart
    5

  • Cloud Boy
    Marcia Williams
    5

  • The Day I Was Erased
    Lisa Thompson
    4

  • When We Were Warriors
    Emma Carroll
    4

  • The Boy Who Flew
    Fleur Hitchcock
    4

Ages 10-14

  • The Midnight Hour
    Benjamin Read
    Laura Trinder
    5

  • Now or Never-a Dunkirk Story
    Bali Rai
    5

  • The Time Travel Diaries
    Caroline Lawrence
    5

  • Ghost
    Jason Reynolds
    4

  • Girl 38 Finding a Friend
    Ewa Jozefkowicz
    4

  • She Wolf
    Dan Smith
    3

  • Halo Moon
    Sharon Cohen
    3

Ages 14+

  • Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom
    P.M. Freestone
    5

  • Proud
    Various Authors
    5

  • Joe Quinn’s Poltergeist
    David Almond
    5
  • Tales from the Inner City

    Tales from the Inner City
    Shaun Tan
    5

  • Outside
    Sarah Ann Juckes
    4

  • All the Invisible Things
    Orlagh Collins
    4

BfK News

THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

Little Rebels prize logoThe shortlist for the 2019 Little Rebels Award has been announced. Seven books have made the list with war and conflict recurring themes.

read more...
SHORTLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Selected by volunteer Youth Librarians from longlists of 20 books per medal, there are eight on each shortlist.

Alongside previously shortlisted authors and illustrators, there are newcomers on each shortlist, and as the poetry boom for young readers continues, three verse novels make the Carnegie shortlist by US authors Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander and Jason Reynolds.

The 2019 shortlists are as follows:

read more...
BLUE PETER BOOK AWARD WINNERS 2019

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Raúf and The Colours of History by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Marc-Etienne Peintre, have been revealed as the 2019 Blue Peter Book Award winners.

read more...
LONGLISTS FOR 2019 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced. Members of YLG have selected 20 books for each list from no less than 254 nominations.

read more...
WINNERS OF THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS 2019

Funny Women win the Lollies!

Lollies winners 2019

Elys Dolan, Emer Stamp and Tom Gates creator Liz Pichon have been named the winners of the 2019 Laugh Out Loud Awards, or Lollies.

read more...
HILARY MCKAY WINS COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD WITH ‘PERFECT’ NOVEL

Hilary McKay has won the Costa Children’s Book Award for the second time for The Skylarks’ War, a story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the backdrop of World War One. The judges described The Skylarks’ War as ‘as perfect a novel as you could ever want to read’. She receives £5,000 and her book is now eligible for the ultimate prize - the 2018 Costa Book of the Year.

read more...
FAR FROM HOME WINS THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

The winner of the 2018 Educational Writers’ Award, the UK’s sole award for creative educational writing, is Far From Home: Refugees and Migrants Fleeing War, Persecution and Poverty by Cath Senker, a topical and richly illustrated book which sensitively examines the root causes of mass migrations of people in the 21st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

read more...
SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

read more...
COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2018: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

Costa have announced the shortlist for the 2018 Costa Children’s Book Award. In a record year for submissions, four novels have made it onto a strong shortlist.

read more...
SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the 2019 Blue Peter Book Awards. They are:

Best book with facts

The Element in the Room by Mike Barfield and illustrated by Lauren Humphry, Laurence King Publishing

The Colours of History by Clive Gifford and Marc-Etienne Peintre, QED Publishing

Professor Astro Cat's Human Body Odyssey by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman, Flying Eye Books

read more...
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