Books for Keeps 236 - the children's book magazine online

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BfK No. 236 - May 2019

This issue’s cover illustration features Rumblestar, book one in The Unmapped Chronicles series by Abi Elphinstone illustrated by Carrie May. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for their help with this May cover.

BfK No. 236 Articles

Editorial 236

Guest Editorial by Little Rebels judge Patrice Lawrence

Fine Art and Feminism, Education and Inspiration: The Bigger Picture

Fine Art and Feminism, the bigger picture by Sophia Bennett

30 years of Elmer, the indispensable elephant

Happy 30^th Birthday, Elmer. Carey Fluker Hunt celebrates

Ten of the Best: Books about Witches

Imogen Russell Williams decides which witches are best

Authorgraph 236: Abi Elphinstone

Abi Elphinstone interviewed by Joy Court

Windows into Illustration: Victoria Turnbull

Windows into Illustration: Victoria Turnbull

Picturebook talent: the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize shortlist

Martin Salisbury appraises the Klaus Flugge Prize shortlist

Obituary: Judith Kerr 1923-2019

Nicholas Tucker remembers the extraordinary Judith Kerr.

Flights of Imagination: the Migrations exhibition

A guide to the Migrations exhibition by Pam Dix

Beyond the Secret Garden: Taking Series Seriously

Beyond the Secret Garden: Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor take series seriously

Bringing Beowulf to Britain

Tony Bradman on a story that’s enthralled him all his life

I Wish I’d Written: Susan Martineau

Susan Martineau on the magic of The Eagle of the Ninth

Good Reads 236

Good Reads chosen by chosen by pupils at Manav Rachna International School, India

Classics in Short No 135: A Wonder-Book for Boys and Girls

Brian Alderson assesses the first classic children's book to come from the United States.

Editor's Choice

Tad

Benji Davies

(HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks)

Tad is the smallest tadpole in the pond and struggles to keep up with her many siblings who taunt her with the threat of Big Blub. Then Tad notices her brothers and sisters are disappearing – where have they gone? What will happen to her – she...

The Umbrella Mouse

Anna Fargher

(Macmillan Children's Books)

It’s 1944, the D-Day landings have just taken place and Pip the mouse is living with her parents inside an antique umbrella in a shop window in New Oxford Street, where Pip listens to stories about her Italian relatives at the umbrella museum in...

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

Under 5s

Circle

Mac Barnett

5
Lubna and Pebble

Wendy Meddour

5
This Love: A Celebration of Harmony Around the World

Isabel Otter

5
The Go-Away Bird

Julia Donaldson

5
Tad

Benji Davies

4
The Flute

Ken Wilson-Max

4
Cloud Forest

Victoria Turnbull

4
Tiny T. Rex and The Impossible Hug

Jonathan Stutzman

4

Ages 5-8

Five More Minutes

Marta Altés

5
Paper Planes

Jim Helmore

4
Hotel Flamingo

Alex Milway

4
The Great Big Book of Life

Mary Hoffman
Ros Asquith

4
I Saw a Bee

Rob Ramsden

4

Ages 8-10

The Star-spun Web

Sinéad O’Hart

5
Cloud Boy

Marcia Williams

5
Swimming Against the Storm

Jess Butterworth

5
The Tunnels Below

Nadine Wild-Palmer

4
The Longest Night of Charlie Moon

Christopher Edge

4
The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet

Martin Howard

4
We Won An Island

Charlotte Lo

4
The Winged Horse Race

Kallie George

4
The Last Zoo

Sam Gayton

4
Winter of the Wolves

Tony Bradman

4
The Umbrella Mouse

Anna Fargher

3

Ages 10-14

The Time Travel Diaries

Caroline Lawrence

5
Dancing the Charleston

Jacqueline Wilson

5
Pay Attention, Carter Jones

Gary D. Schmidt

5
Winter of the Wolves

Tony Bradman

4
A Wolf Called Wander

Rosanne Parry

4
The Middler

Kirsty Appelbaum

3

Ages 14+

Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

Marcus Sedgwick
Julian Sedgwick

5
Toffee

Sarah Crossan

5
The Stolen Ones

Vanessa Curtis

5
The Colour of Shadows

Phyllida Shrimpton

3

BfK News

BRANFORD BOASE AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

The children’s authors to watch: shortlist for the 2019 Branford Boase Award announced

Branford Boase Award shortlist 2019

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) has announced the 2019 shortlist for their poetry award, CLiPPA (The Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award). Children’s poetry is booming and there were a record number of entries for the CLiPPA, the only award for children’s poetry.

THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD SHORTLIST 2019

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

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 21^st century.

Cath Senker wins EWA 2018

Canvases, Codes, Clean Water & Empathy

Books for Keeps 236 - the children's book magazine online

Digital version – browse, print or download

BfK Newsletter

BfK No. 236 Articles

Editor's Choice

Tad

New Talent

The Umbrella Mouse

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 236

Under 5s

Circle

Lubna and Pebble

This Love: A Celebration of Harmony Around the World

The Go-Away Bird

Tad

The Flute

Cloud Forest

Tiny T. Rex and The Impossible Hug

Ages 5-8

Five More Minutes

Paper Planes

Hotel Flamingo

The Great Big Book of Life

I Saw a Bee

Ages 8-10

The Star-spun Web

Cloud Boy

Swimming Against the Storm

The Tunnels Below

The Longest Night of Charlie Moon

The Cosmic Atlas of Alfie Fleet

We Won An Island

The Winged Horse Race

The Last Zoo

Winter of the Wolves

The Umbrella Mouse

Ages 10-14

The Time Travel Diaries

Dancing the Charleston

Pay Attention, Carter Jones

Winter of the Wolves

A Wolf Called Wander

The Middler

Ages 14+

Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black

Toffee

The Stolen Ones

The Colour of Shadows

BfK News