Home
  • Home
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Authors & Artists
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Forums
  • Search

Books for Keeps 216 - the children's book magazine online

  • View
  • Rearrange

Digital version – browse, print or download

Can't see the preview?
Click here!

How to print the digital edition of Books for Keeps: click on this PDF file link - click on the printer icon in the top right of the screen to print.

BfK Newsletter

Receive the latest news & reviews direct to your inbox!

BfK No. 216 - January 2016
BfK 216 January 2016

This issue’s cover illustration is from Elmer’s Little Library by David McKee. Thanks to Andersen Press for their help with this cover.

Digital Edition
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 216 January 2016.

BfK No. 216 Articles

Editorial 216

by Ferelith Hordon

Reading the Way: Inclusive Books from Around the World

Dr. Rebecca Butler reports

2016: the books to watch! (publishers A - M)

Leading children's publishers look ahead.

2016: the books to watch! (publishers O - Z)

Leading children's editors look ahead

Windows into illustration: Michael Foreman

A life in pictures

Authorgraph 216 Caroline Binch

Caroline Binch interviewed by Tricia Kings

Ten of the Best Books to boost empathy

Sarah Mears of EmpathyLab chooses

Visual Literacy: flying to another place

by Piet Grobler

Andersen Press - Forty Years Young

Venerable publisher Klaus Flugge interviewed by Joy Court

Peter Dickinson Obituary

Peter Dickinson remembered by Ferelith Hordon

I Wish I’d Written: Jonathan Stroud

Jonathan Stroud chooses one of the finest post-war British fantasies.

Good Reads 216

Chosen by pupils at Aith Junior School, Shetland

The Art of Writing a Novel

by Lisa Williamson

Two Children Tell: Nick And Humour ‘That’s a funny one’

Nick and humour

An introduction to Tiny Owl

Jill Bennett on new publisher Tiny Owl

Classics in Short No 115: Poor Cecco

The cleverest of all the toys

Wild Lily Chapter One

Chapter One from Wild Lily by K M Peyton.

PERDITA AND HONOR CARGILL: AUTHORS OF WAITING FOR CALLBACK

An interview with the mother and daughter writing team.

A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH KNIGHTLEY AND SON AUTHOR ROHAN GAVIN

The author answers our questions

AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP WOMACK

The author of The Double Axe on reinventing Greek myth

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROSS MONTGOMERY

Imogen Russell Williams asks the questions.

A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH GWENDA BOND

The author of Lois Lane Fallout answers our questions.

Editor's Choice

The Pushcart War

Jean Merrill
(New York Review Books/Children's Collection)
4

The streets of New York are crowded - pedestrians, cars and the pushcarts - the mobile stalls selling anything from doorknobs to pretzels - and trucks. That’s the problem. There are too many trucks (lorries) that are getting bigger and bigger....

read more

New Talent

Beautiful Broken Things

Sara Barnard
(Macmillan Children's Books)
5

Caddie (short for Cadnam; don't ask!) and Rosie are best friends. Truly best friends though they now go to different schools. Then Suzanne arrives in Rosie's class - beautiful, dazzling, outrageous and troubled Suzanne. Can three girls be best...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 216

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

Under 5s

  • Walter’s Wonderful Web

    Tim Hopgood
    5
  • Say It!

    Charlotte Zolotow
    5
  • The Red Prince

    Charlie Roscoe
    5
  • The Queen’s Handbag

    Steve Antony
    5
  • Have you seen Elephant?

    David Barrow
    4
  • My Hand

    Satoshi Kitamura
    4
  • Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat

    Emily Mackenzie
    4
  • Go Home, Little One

    Cate James
    3
  • Fairy Tales for Mr Barker

    Jessica Ahlberg
    3

Ages 5-8

  • Deep in the Woods

    Christopher Corr
    5
  • Animal Camouflage: Search and Find

    Sam Hutchinson
    5
  • Blue Penguin

    Petr Horácek
    5
  • Den Building: Creating Imaginative Spaces Using Almost Anything

    Jane Hewitt
    Cathy Cross
    5
  • Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back

    Shel Silverstein
    4
  • Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption

    Jose Domingo
    4
  • Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat

    Emily Mackenzie
    4
  • Dragon White

    Shoo Rayner
    3

Ages 8-10

  • Clare and her Captain

    Michael Morpurgo
    5
  • The Seal’s Fate

    Eoin Colfer
    5
  • The Pushcart War

    Jean Merrill
    4
  • The Storm Leopards

    Holly Webb
    4
  • The Dog Ray

    Linda Coggin
    4
  • Confessions of an Imaginary Friend: A Memoir by Jacques Papier

    Michelle Cuevas
    4
  • Lift-the-Flap Computers and Coding

    Rosie Dickins
    4
  • Jack Dash and the Magic Feather

    Sophie Plowden
    4
  • Dragon White

    Shoo Rayner
    3
  • Gulliver

    Mary Webb
    3

Ages 10-14

  • Anyone But Ivy Pocket

    Caleb Krisp
    5
  • Twenty Questions for Gloria

    Martyn Bedford
    5
  • How to Look For a Lost Dog

    Ann M Martin
    5
  • The ACB with Honora Lee

    Kate De Goldi
    5
  • Baker’s Magic

    Diane Zahler
    5
  • The Story of Antigone

    Ali Smith
    5
  • The Monkey’s Secret

    Gennifer Choldenko
    5
  • Never Evers

    Tom Ellen
    Lucy Ivison
    4
  • The Icarus Show

    Sally Christie
    4
  • Waiting for Callback

    Perdita Cargill
    Honor Cargill
    4
  • 3 of a Kind

    Rohan Gavin
    4
  • Hell and High Water

    Tanya Landman
    3

Ages 14+

  • Beautiful Broken Things

    Sara Barnard
    5
  • Anything That Isn’t This

    Chris Priestley
    5
  • Illuminae

    Jay Kristoff
    Amie Kaufman
    5
  • Silence is Goldfish

    Annabel Pitcher
    4
  • Wild Lily

    K M Peyton
    4
  • Zeroes

    Scott Westerfeld
    Margo Lanagan
    Deborah Biancotti
    4
  • What We Left Behind

    Robin Talley
    4
  • Faceless

    Alyssa Sheinmel
    4
  • Waiting for Callback

    Perdita Cargill
    Honor Cargill
    4
  • Anna and the Swallow Man

    Gavriel Savit
    4
  • Boy23

    Jim Carrington
    3
  • Captive

    A.J.Grainger
    3

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.’

read more...
ROBIN WALKER WINS THE 2020 ALCS EDUCATIONAL WRITERS’ AWARD FOR BLACK HISTORY MATTERS

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.

read more...
IBBY UK nominate Marcus Sedgwick and David McKee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2022

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

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE COSTA CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

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)

read more...
BOOKTRUST’S REPRESENTS INTERIM RESEARCH & CLPE REFLECTING REALITIES SURVEY 2020

CLPE Reflecting Realities Report 2020

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2021 BLUE PETER BOOK AWARDS REVEALED

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

Blue Peter Book Award logo

read more...
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.

read more...
JANE PORTER AND MAISIE PARADISE SHEARRING 2020 LITTLE REBELS AWARD WINNERS

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.

Little Rebels logo 2020

read more...
OU AND MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCH BOOK CHAT SCHEME

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.

read more...
TOM PALMER WINS THE CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD 2020

Tom Palmer

read more...
more
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Help/FAQ
  • My Account