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Books for Keeps 144 - the children's book magazine online

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Books for Keeps is packed with articles, interviews comment and, of course, reviews.

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BfK No. 144 - January 2004

Cover Story
This issue’s cover is from Garth Nix’s Mister Monday. Garth Nix is interviewed by Geoff Fox. Thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books for their help with this January cover.

BfK No. 144 Articles

Editorial - January 2004

News and comment from the Editor.
Windows into Illustration: Babette Cole

Babette Cole on Drop Dead and The Bad Good Manners Book.
What's reading for anyway?

Alan Gibbons on the impact of SATs.
Authorgraph No.144: Garth Nix

Garth Nix interviewed by Geoff Fox.
Peter Ackroyd's 'Voyages through Time'

Sue Unstead on a new approach to non-fiction.
BfK Profile: Kevin Brooks

Julia Eccleshare on the fiction of Kevin Brooks.
On Being an Editor

Miriam Hodgson on the author/editor relationship.
Listening to a good book

Angela Macpherson on the contribution of audio books.
BfK Briefing - January 2004

News * Awards * Obituaries * Events * Letter to the Editor
Useful Organisations No.31: myBOOKSmag

Magazine for 5-7 year-olds.
Hal’s Reading Diary - January 2004

Roger Mills on how Hal prefers his mother for bedtime reading.
I Wish I’d Written… Blame It on the Hobbit

Meg Cabot chooses Susan Juby's Blame It on the Hobbit.
Good Reads: Abbotsford School, Kenilworth, Warwickshire

Reviews from pupils of Abbotsford School, Kenilworth, Warwickshire.
Classics in Short No.43: Tales from Shakespear

Brian Alderson on Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespear (sic).

Editor's Choice

The Wolves in the Walls
Neil Gaiman
(Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)
5

This large square picture book for older readers is preoccupied, as is Gaiman's novel, Coraline, with the meaning of the house in which the heroine lives with her family. Coraline explores a parallel house with counterfeit parents who have...

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New Talent

The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Liz Kessler
(Orion Children's Books)
3

Emily lives on a boat but has never been in water. When her class first go to the pool for swimming lessons, she discovers an extraordinary ability to swim - but something strange happens to her legs which seem to want to fuse together. Emily...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 144

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

Under 5s

  • I Don't Want To Go To Bed!
    Tony Ross
    5

  • The Ballet Class
    Adèle Geras
    4

  • I Am Too Absolutely Small for School
    Lauren Child
    4

  • You Do!
    Kes Gray
    4

  • Cluck O'Clock
    Kes Gray
    4

  • My First Day at Nursery
    Becky Edwards
    4

  • The Orchard Book of Favourite Rhymes and Verse
    4

  • So Many Babies
    Martina Selway
    3

  • Goodnight, Sleep Tight!
    Claire Freedman
    3

  • Minnie and her Baby Brother
    Melanie Walsh
    3

  • Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
    Annie Kubler
    3

  • Humphrey's Playtime ¦ Humphrey's Colours ¦ Humphrey's Family ¦ Humphrey's Garden
    Sally Hunter
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Monster Stones: The Story of a Dinosaur Fossil; Sun Up, Sun Down: The Story of Day and Night; A Drop in the Ocean: The Story of Water; Charging About: The Story of Electricity
    Jacqui Bailey
    5

  • The Oxford First Illustrated Dictionary
    4

  • Black's Rhyming and Spelling Dictionary
    Pie Corbett
    Ruth Thomson
    4

  • Franklin's Bear
    Chris D'Lacey
    4

  • I am an Ankylosaurus; I am a Tyrannosaurus
    Karen Wallace
    4

  • The Jamie and Angus Stories
    Anne Fine
    4

  • David and the Kittens
    Robert Westall
    4

  • Hot Hot Hot
    Neal Layton
    4

  • Cat on the Hill
    Michael Foreman
    4

  • Septimouse Supermouse; Septimouse, Big Cheese!
    Ann Jungman
    3

  • The Amazing Adventures of Girl Wonder
    Malorie Blackman
    3

  • Aristotle
    Dick King-Smith
    3

  • Hetty the Yeti; The Mean Team from Mars; Ducan and the Pirates; Brick-a-Breck
    Dee Shulman
    3

  • The Biggest Bible Storybook
    Anne Adeney
    3

  • The Giant Turnip
    Henriette Barkow
    3

  • Materials; Water
    Lynn Huggins-Cooper
    2

  • Titchy Witch and the Stray Dragon
    Rose Impey
    2

Ages 8-10

  • The Wolves in the Walls
    Neil Gaiman
    5

  • Where the Sidewalk Ends: poems and drawings; A Light in the Attic: poems and drawings
    Shel Silverstein
    4

  • Quirky Times at Quagmire Castle; The Gold-Spectre; Planimal Magic; Eyes Wide Open
    Karen Wallace
    4

  • Private and Confidential
    Marion Ripley
    4

  • The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone
    Timothy Basil Ering
    4

  • The Tail of Emily Windsnap
    Liz Kessler
    3

  • Dyslexia
    Althea
    3

  • Story of the Nile: A Journey through Time along the World's Longest River
    Dr Anne Millard
    2

Ages 10-14

  • King of the Middle March
    Kevin Crossley-Holland
    5

  • Icefire
    Chris D'Lacey
    4

  • The Book of Dead Days
    Marcus Sedgwick
    4

  • Ryland's Footsteps
    Sally Prue
    4

  • Earthborn; Who Goes Home?
    Sylvia Waugh
    4

  • Midnight
    Jacqueline Wilson
    4

  • The Silver Child
    Cliff McNish
    4

  • The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1); The Seeing Stone (The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 2)
    Tony DiTerlizzi
    Holly Black
    4

  • The Blood Stone
    Jamila Gavin
    3

  • Lionboy
    Zizou Corder
    3

  • No-Flinch Lynch
    Jonathan Kebbe
    3

  • Mary, Bloody Mary; Beware, Princess Elizabeth
    Carolyn Meyer
    3

  • Tell the Moon to Come Out
    Joan Lingard
    3

  • Wipe Out
    Mimi Thebo
    3

  • 10 November 1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall; 21 July 1969: First Man on the Moon; 11 November 1918: The World War I Armistice; 12 October 1492: Columbus reaches the Americas; 11 September 2001: Attack on America
    Brian Williams
    2

  • The Goose Girl
    Shannon Hale
    0

Ages 14+

  • Sisterland
    Linda Newbery
    4

  • The Braves
    David Klass
    4

  • Waving Not Drowning
    Rosie Rushton
    4

  • The Opposite of Chocolate
    Julie Bertagna
    4

  • A Jetblack Sunrise. Poems about War and Conflict
    4

  • Autism; Solvents
    Sarah Lennard-Brown
    3

  • A Crack in the Line
    Michael Lawrence
    3

Books About Children's Books

  • A Double Life; a biography of Charles and Mary Lamb
    Sarah Burton
    3

BfK News

CRESSIDA COWELL LAUNCHES NEW LAUREATE INITIATIVE IN SUPPORT OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND CALLS ON PM TO ACT

‘How can a child become a reader for pleasure if their parents or carers cannot afford books, and their primary school has no library, or that library is woefully insufficient?’

Life-changing Libraries logo

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SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 UKLA BOOK AWARDS

UKLA Book Awards logo

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ALL STORIES, A NEW MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME FOR UNDERREPRESENTED CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS

A new mentorship scheme for underrepresented authors launches today, 30 March. All Stories offers fourteen mentorships delivered by expert children’s book editors.

All Stories logo

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2021 SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

CKG Logo

The shortlists for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are announced today, 18 March. The awards are the UK’s oldest for children and young people.

This year’s judges praised their shortlists for ‘offering hope and escapism during lockdown’ through explorations of freedom, the great outdoors and journeys through the natural world.

read more...
INAUGURAL LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE JHALAK CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT PRIZE

The Jhalak Prize has announced the longlist for the inaugural Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize.

Jhalak Prize logo

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ONJALI RAÚF BECOMES WRITER IN RESIDENCE FOR BOOKTRUST

Award-winning author and activist, Onjali Raúf takes up the post as the new Writer in Residence for BookTrust, today, International Women’s Day. She takes over from Smriti Halls.

Onjali Q Raúf

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LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

The longlist for the 2021 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced.

CKG Logo

read more...
LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

Klaus Flugge Prize logo

read more...
NOW OPEN: 2021 HENRIETTA BRANFORD WRITING COMPETITION

Finish a story started by Branford Boase Award winner Liz Hyder

The Henrietta Branford Writing Competition, the annual competition for young people which runs in conjunction with the Branford Boase Award, is now open.

read more...
TWO UK ENTRIES ON IBBY LIST OF OUTSTANDING BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Every two years, IBBY invites nominations for its international List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. Nominations are made by IBBY national sections and the final list is selected from these by the IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Young People with Disabilities, based in Toronto. Because of its international content, the list is unique in the children’s book world. It is a huge voluntary undertaking as every country is encouraged to submit up to twelve titles across the three categories.

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