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Books for Keeps 158 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 158 - May 2006

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Simon Bartram’s Up for the Cup! due to be published in September. Simon Bartram is interviewed by Martin Salisbury. Thanks to Templar Publishing for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 158 Articles

Editorial - May 2006

News and comment from the Editor.

Marginalising Essentials

Robert Hull on interventionism in the teaching of English.

Fiction Publishing in the 21st Century

Cally Poplak assesses the potential of iCUE.

A Sailor’s Life for Me

Janet Fisher discusses historical novels about Trafalgar.

Authorgraph No.158: Simon Bartram

Simon Bartram interviewed by Martin Salisbury.

What Happens During Shared Reading?

Vincent Reid explores new research findings.

Hal's Reading Diary - May 2006

Roger Mills on competitive parents.

Good Reads: Stanchester Community School, Stoke Sub Hamdon, Somerset

Reviews from Stanchester Community School, Somerset.

BfK Briefing - May 2006

Awards * Events * Obituary * Letters to the Editor * Competition

Useful Organisations No.44: BRAW

BRAW (Books, Reading and Writing) is the network for the Scottish children’s book.

I Wish I’d Written…The Eclipse of the Century

Kate Thompson chooses Jan Mark's The Eclipse of the Century.

Classics in Short No.57: Nurse Matilda

Brian Alderson on Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda.

Editor's Choice

The Book of Everything

Guus Kuijer
(Young Picador)
5

Have Kuijer’s books been translated before? On the basis of this pithy, short, intensely poetic novel set in the Amsterdam of the 1950s, it would be good to have more of his work in translation.

The bares bones of the story are that 9-year...

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New Talent

The Wind Tamer

P R Morrison
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
4

Archie Stringweed is just ten and a mollycoddled boy whose father, Jeffrey, is very nice but a man who is so anxious that despite collecting travel brochures, he has never dared to venture abroad. The Springweed family motto is ‘Semper fortitudo...

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All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 158

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

Under 5s

  • Ten Steps to Bedtime

    Britta Teckentrup
    5
  • Ouch! I Need a Plaster!

    Nick Sharratt
    5
  • Counting Cockatoos

    Stella Blackstone
    5
  • This Little Chick

    John Lawrence
    4
  • Spookyrumpus

    Tony Mitton
    4
  • Shark in the Park!

    Nick Sharratt
    4
  • Ketchup On Your Cornflakes?

    Nick Sharratt
    4
  • Eric the Red

    Caroline Glicksman
    4
  • This is the Bear

    Sarah Hayes
    Helen Craig
    3
  • Simeon's Gift

    Julie Andrews Edwards
    Emma Walton Hamilton
    3
  • My Mum Goes to Work

    Kes Gray
    3
  • I Love Shapes

    Dr Miriam Stoppard
    3
  • More and More Rabbits

    Nicholas Allan
    2
  • Cleo's Colour Book

    Caroline Mockford
    2

Ages 5-8

  • When a Zeeder Met a Xyder

    Malachy Doyle
    4
  • Oscar and the Frog: A Book about Growing; Oscar and the Moth: A Book about Light and Dark

    Geoff Waring
    4
  • My Map Book

    Sara Fanelli
    4
  • The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon

    Mini Grey
    4
  • My Hat and All That

    Tony Mitton
    3
  • Dinosaur Chase!

    Benedict Blathwayt
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Think of a Number

    Johnny Ball
    5
  • Katie Milk Solves Crimes and so on…

    Annie Caulfield
    5
  • The Penderwicks

    Jeanne Birdsall
    4
  • Clair de Lune

    Cassandra Golds
    4
  • A Bit of Nonsense

    Edward Lear
    4
  • The Wind Tamer

    P R Morrison
    4
  • Transform! How everyday things are made

    Jim Slavin
    3
  • The Story Shop: Stories for Literacy

    3
  • The Midwinters

    Julie Rainsbury
    3
  • A Dog For Life

    L S Matthews
    3
  • Ramose and the Tomb Robbers; Ramose: Prince in Exile

    Carole Wilkinson
    2
  • I Believe in Unicorns

    Michael Morpurgo
    2
  • Flyte (Septimus Heap, Book Two)

    Angie Sage
    2

Ages 10-14

  • Waiting for the Future: Poems by children on poverty and bad housing

    5
  • The Ultimate Teen Book Guide

    5
  • Peace Weavers

    Julia Jarman
    5
  • Once

    Morris Gleitzman
    5
  • The Lottery

    Beth Goobie
    5
  • A Darkling Plain

    Philip Reeve
    5
  • The Book of Everything

    Guus Kuijer
    5
  • Wolf Girl

    Theresa Tomlinson
    4
  • Watching

    Judy Allen
    4
  • Midnighters: The Secret Hour

    Scott Westerfeld
    4
  • Ingo

    Helen Dunmore
    4
  • Flying a Flag for Hitler

    Elsbeth Emmerich
    4
  • The Death Collector

    Justin Richards
    4
  • Charley Feather

    Kate Pennington
    4
  • Venus Spring: Stunt Girl

    Jonny Zucker
    3
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

    Rick Riordan
    3
  • Payback

    Andy McNab
    Robert Rigby
    3
  • It Didn't Happen

    Sandra Glover
    3
  • Heretic

    Sarah Singleton
    3
  • Boy Band Blues

    Kelly McKain
    3
  • Death of A Princess

    Susan Geason
    2

Ages 14+

  • Tersias

    G P Taylor
    5
  • Silent to the Bone

    E L Konigsburg
    5
  • Let's Get Lost

    Sarra Manning
    5
  • Forged in the Fire

    Ann Turnbull
    5
  • Uglies

    Scott Westerfeld
    4
  • Skin

    A M Vrettos
    4
  • Herman

    Lars Saabye Christensen
    4
  • Thieves Like Us

    Steve Cole
    3
  • Love in Luxor

    Gill Harvey
    3
  • Firestarter

    Catherine Forde
    3
  • The Book of Whispers

    Julie O'Callaghan
    2

Books About Children's Books

  • Treasure Islands: Studies in Children's Literature

    4

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

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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.

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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

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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

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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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