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BfK No. 111 - July 1998

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Poetry (cover illustration by Peter Weevers). Edited by Alison Sage (who also edited The Hutchinson Treasury of Children’s Literature), this sumptuous anthology is loosely divided into four sections corresponding to age starting with nursery rhymes and first poems through to poems for older children and classic poetry. Poems from such modern poets as Roger McGough, Ted Hughes, Wendy Cope and Maya Angelou sit alongside poems by Longfellow, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shelley and Shakespeare. The anthology is illustrated in full colour and black and white. Newly commissioned illustrations from, for example, Quentin Blake, Shirley Hughes and Nicola Bayley are included alongside illustrations by Randolph Caldecott, Jessie Willcox Smith and Kate Greenaway. With such a comprehensive range of poems for 2-11 year olds and upwards, this is a wonderful family book.

BfK No. 111 Articles

Editorial – July 1998

News and comment from the Editor.

Keep on Walking!

Julia Eccleshare on 30 years of Rosie's Walk.

Poetry Power

Helen Taylor assesses recent poetry publishing for children.

Breaking Down the Barriers

Kevin Berry on first languages and poetry.

King of the Sky

Gwynneth Bailey on using poetry for The Literacy Hour.

Finding Their Own Voices

John Lynch on children writing poetry.

Authorgraph No.111: Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah interviewed by Errol Lloyd.

BfK Briefing – July 1998

News * Awards * Best Seller Chart * Letters to the Editor

Useful Organisations No.1: The Poetry Society

Nurturing and promoting poets and poetry.

What Should Win the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals?

BfK asks children's literature experts and young readers to nominate their winners.

Good Reads: Havelock Primary School

Reviews from pupils of Havelock Primary School, Southall, Middlesex.

I Wish I’d Written… Harry and the Wrinklies

Anne Fine chooses Alan Temperley's Harry and the Wrinklies.

Classics in Short No.10: A Child’s Garden of Verses

Helen Levene on Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

Editor's Choice

Witnesses to War

Michael Leapman

(Puffin)

Anne Frank is one of eight young people featured in this collection of war-time biographies whose lives were irrevocably disrupted by Nazism. Anne Frank was to die in Bergen-Belsen, and because we feel we know her so well via her diary, come to...

Skellig

David Almond

(Hodder Children's Books)

A move to a new house coincides for Michael with the anguish of bearing his new baby sister's medical problems. Will she live? As the baby fights for her life in a hospital incubator, Michael learns, with the help of his new friend Mina, to look...

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

Under 5s

Big Silver Spaceship

Ken Wilson-Max

5
The Long Nosed Pig

Keith Faulkner

5
Our Puppy's Holiday

Ruth Brown

4
Baby Duck and the New Eyeglasses

Amy Hest

4
Pippo Gets Lost; Tom and Pippo's Day; Tom and Pippo Go for a Walk; Tom and Pippo Read a Story

Helen Oxenbury

4
A Child's Treasury of Irish Rhymes

Alice Taylor

3
Daisy is a Mummy

Lisa Kopper

3
Stellaluna

Janell Cannon

2

Ages 5-8

Whistling Jack

Linda Newbery

5
Clown

Quentin Blake

5
Boys Are Us; Dear Alien

Shoo Rayner

4
Harry on Holiday; A Hiccup on the High Seas; Rattle and Hum in Double Trouble; Bing Bang Boogie, It's a Boy Scout

Chris Powling
Scoular Anderson

4
Forest Tales from Far and Wide; Farmyard Tales from Far and Wide

4
Sound City

Sarah Hayes

4
How to Live Forever

Colin Thompson

4
Scratch 'n' Sniff

Gus Clarke

4
Thud!

Nick Butterworth

4
Children Don't Divorce; No More Bullying!

Rosemary Stones

4
Gita and Goldie; Timmy and Tiger

Mary Hooper

3
"Og Fo" says the Space Bug; Pets Just Want to Have Fun!; "I don't Like Space Glop"; "Do I Look Funny to You?"

Nicola Matthews

3
Off to School

3
Winnie the Witch; The Fish Who Could Wish

Valerie Thomas

3
Dad's Dodgy Lodger; Talking Pictures

Philip Wooderson
Dee Shulman

2

Ages 8-10

My Grandfather is a Magician

Ifeoma Onyefulu

5
Robln of Sherwood

Michael Morpurgo

5
Willa and Old Miss Annie

Berlie Doherty

5
A Tudor Warship; A Victorian Mill

Brian Moses

4
Carmine's Story

Arlene Schulman

4
Tom's Private War

Robert Leeson

4
How Castles Were Built

Peter Hicks

3
Ruby Red: Tales from the Weedwater

Henrietta Branford

3

Ages 10-14

My Left Foot

Christy Brown

5
MapHead 2

Lesley Howarth

5
Skellig

David Almond

5
Witnesses to War

Michael Leapman

5
Dealing with Eating Disorders; Sex; Periods

Kate Haycock

4
Religion; Women's Rights

Anita Ganeri

4
Child of the May

Theresa Tomlinson

4
Clues from Names

Gillian Clegg

4
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J K Rowling

4
Love Lessons

David Belbin

3
Family Secrets

Brian Keaney

3
Crisis in Central Africa; The Berlin Wall

Charles Freeman

3
The Element Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mind, Body, Spirit and Earth; The Unexplained Psychic Powers

Joanna Crosse

2
The Empty Frame

Ann Pilling

2
Abomination

Robert Swindells

2

Books About Children's Books

A Year with Poetry

5
From the Garden to the Street: Three Hundred Years of Poetry for Children

Morag Styles

5

BfK News

NATASHA FARRANT WINS 2020 COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD

Natasha Farrant

Writer and literary scout Natasha Farrant has won the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award for Voyage of the Sparrowhawk, a book which the judges described as ‘pure heavenly escapism and a purely joyful read.’

The winner of the 2020 ALCS Educational Writers’ Award is Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, From African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter. Written by acclaimed Black historian, Robin Walker, the 2020 judges praised this accessible, comprehensive and inspiring book which provides a timely introduction both to Black history and the Black Lives Matter movement.

IBBY UK has announced that Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee will be the UK nominations for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Debut authors Darren Charlton and Jenny Pearson join Natasha Farrant and Meg Rosoff on the shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award.

The shortlist for the 2020 Costa Children’s Book Award has been announced. No less than 146 books were submitted and from those the judges have chosen a shortlist of four. They are:

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

The six books shortlisted for the 2021 Blue Peter Book Awards have been announced.

Blue Peter Book Award logo

Happy National Non-Fiction November 2020

It’s National Non-Fiction November! Organised by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups, National Non-Fiction November is an annual celebration of the power of non-fiction to inspire children and celebrate readers who have a passion for information and facts. 2020 is the 10th anniversary of National Non-Fiction November.

Jane Porter and Maisie Paradise Shearring have won the 2020 Little Rebels Award for their picture book The Boy who Loved Everyone. They will share the £2000 prize.

The Open University (OU) is launching Book Chat: Reading with your Child, a resource which comprises three short films and support materials to help parents, families and carers read books conversationally and creatively to children. Working with Macmillan Children’s Books, the films use a selection of their picture books and a poetry collection to support families with reading to different ages of children.

Tom Palmer

Books for Keeps 111 - the children's book magazine online

Digital version – browse, print or download

BfK Newsletter

BfK No. 111 Articles

Editor's Choice

Witnesses to War

New Talent

Skellig

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 111

Under 5s

Big Silver Spaceship

The Long Nosed Pig

Our Puppy's Holiday

Baby Duck and the New Eyeglasses

Pippo Gets Lost; Tom and Pippo's Day; Tom and Pippo Go for a Walk; Tom and Pippo Read a Story

A Child's Treasury of Irish Rhymes

Daisy is a Mummy

Stellaluna

Ages 5-8

Whistling Jack

Clown

Boys Are Us; Dear Alien

Harry on Holiday; A Hiccup on the High Seas; Rattle and Hum in Double Trouble; Bing Bang Boogie, It's a Boy Scout

Forest Tales from Far and Wide; Farmyard Tales from Far and Wide

Sound City

How to Live Forever

Scratch 'n' Sniff

Thud!

Children Don't Divorce; No More Bullying!

Gita and Goldie; Timmy and Tiger

"Og Fo" says the Space Bug; Pets Just Want to Have Fun!; "I don't Like Space Glop"; "Do I Look Funny to You?"

Off to School

Winnie the Witch; The Fish Who Could Wish

Dad's Dodgy Lodger; Talking Pictures

Ages 8-10

My Grandfather is a Magician

Robln of Sherwood

Willa and Old Miss Annie

A Tudor Warship; A Victorian Mill

Carmine's Story

Tom's Private War

How Castles Were Built

Ruby Red: Tales from the Weedwater

Ages 10-14

My Left Foot

MapHead 2

Skellig

Witnesses to War

Dealing with Eating Disorders; Sex; Periods

Religion; Women's Rights

Child of the May

Clues from Names

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Love Lessons

Family Secrets

Crisis in Central Africa; The Berlin Wall

The Element Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mind, Body, Spirit and Earth; The Unexplained Psychic Powers

The Empty Frame

Abomination

Books About Children's Books

A Year with Poetry

From the Garden to the Street: Three Hundred Years of Poetry for Children

BfK News