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

Books for Keeps 242 - 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. 242 - May 2020
BfK 242 May 2020

This issue’s cover illustration is from Pests written and illustrated by Emer Stamp. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for their help with this May cover.

By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 242 May 2020.

BfK No. 242 Articles

Editorial July 2020

Comment from the editor
Is Lockdown the Perfect Time to Write?

Writing under Lockdown: Matt Brown struggles
Ten Essential Children's Books

Ten essential books for young readers chosen by Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Windows into Illustration: Mini Grey

Mini Grey on her book The Bad Bunnies' Magic Show
Authorgraph 242: Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo interviewed by Nicolette Jones
Celebrating Bob Hartman and the 25th Anniversary of The Lion Storyteller Bible

25 years of the Lion Storyteller Bible
Marvellous Medicine: how to get through the Coronavirus epidemic with children’s books

The children's authors providing a tonic
Illustrating Pippi

Reimagining Pippi Longstocking
Beyond the Secret Garden Hooray for Health Workers!

Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O’Connor raise a cheer for some fictional doctors and nurses
Margaret Meek Spencer 1925 – 4 May 2020

Margaret Meek Spencer remembered by Clive Barnes
I Wish I'd Written

Beverley Birch chooses
Classics in Short No 141: Some Little Men and Women

Seven Little Australians

Editor's Choice

The Girl from the Sea and other stories
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
4

...

read more

New Talent

One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller
Kate Read
5

...

read more

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 242

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

Under 5s

  • One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller
    Kate Read
    5

  • Bunnies on the Bus
    Philip Ardagh
    5

  • King of the Classroom
    Derrick Barnes
    4

  • Perdu
    Richard Jones
    4

  • Meet the Planets
    Caryl Hart
    4

  • Hugo
    Atinuke
    4

  • The Bad Day
    Frann Preston-Gannon
    4

  • Everyone's Awake
    Colin Meloy
    4

  • My Mama
    Annemarie van Haeringen
    4

  • Follow Me, Flo!
    Jarvis
    3

Ages 5-8

  • The Tale of a Toothbrush
    M.G. Leonard
    5

  • Bear Shaped
    Dawn Coulter-Cruttenden
    5

  • On Wings of Words
    Jennifer Berne
    5

  • Hello, Crow!
    Candace Savage
    5

  • Frockodile
    Jeanne Willis
    5

  • There's a Crocodile in the House
    Paul Cookson
    4

  • The Lost Book
    Margarita Surnaite
    4

  • Animal Explorers: Lola the Plant Hunter
    Sharon Rentta
    4

  • Hey, Water!
    Antoinette Portis
    4

  • A Book of Bears: At Home with Bears Around the World
    Katie Viggers
    4

  • Another book about bears
    Laura Bunting
    Philip Bunting
    4

  • Midge and Mo
    Lara Williamson
    4

  • Tiny T Rex and the Very Dark Dark
    Jonathan Stutzman
    3

Ages 8-10

  • The House of Hidden Wonders
    Sharon Gosling
    5

  • Agents of the Wild: Operation Honeyhunt
    Jennifer Bell
    5

  • The Story of Inventions
    Catherine Barr
    Steve Williams
    5

  • Super Happy Magic Forest and the Humongous Fungus
    Matty Long
    5

  • The Vanishing Trick
    Jenni Spangler
    4

  • The Girl from the Sea and other stories
    Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
    4

  • A Kind of Spark
    Elle McNicholl
    4

  • Hope Jones Saves the World
    Josh Lacey
    4

  • Wilde
    Eloise Williams
    4

  • Johnny Ball: Accidental Football Genius
    Matt Oldfield
    3

  • Freddie's Amazing Bakery: The Cookie Mystery
    Harriet Whitehorn
    3

  • Anisha: Accidental Detective
    Serena Patel
    Emma McCann
    3

  • Mermaid School
    Lucy Courtney
    3

Ages 10-14

  • TrooFriend
    Kirsty Appelbaum
    5

  • Chasing Ghosts
    Nicola Pierce
    4

  • Wink
    Rob Harrell
    4

  • Robin Hood
    Robert Muchamore
    4

  • The Vanishing Trick
    Jenni Spangler
    4

  • The Sound of Freedom
    Ann Murtagh
    4

  • Hope against Hope
    Sheena Wilkinson
    4

  • The Infinite
    Patience Agbabi
    4

  • Clean Getaway
    Nic Stone
    3

  • Memoirs of a Basque Cow
    Bernado Atxaga
    3

  • The List of Things That Will Not Change

    Rebecca Stead
    2

Ages 14+

  • The Enigma Game
    Elizabeth Wein
    5

  • The Pieces of Ourselves
    Maggie Harcourt
    4

  • The Falling in Love Montage
    Ciara Smyth
    4

  • A Phoenix First Must Burn
    Patrice Caldwell
    4

  • The Gone Book
    Helena Close
    3

  • Most Likely
    Sarah Watson
    3

  • Burn
    Patrick Ness
    3

BfK News

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2020 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The shortlist for the Klaus Flugge Prize has been announced. 2020 is the fifth year of the prize, which was set up to honour Klaus Flugge, founder of Andersen Press and an extremely influential figure in children’s picture books. It is awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.

read more...
SHORTLIST FOR THE 2020 BRANFORD BOASE AWARD ANNOUNCED

BBA logo

read more...
UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE SHORTLISTS 2020

UKLA BOOK AWARDS THE SHORTLISTS 2020

read more...
SHORTLISTS FOR THE 2020 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS ANNOUNCED

CILIP CKG logo

The shortlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, have been announced. Selected by Youth Librarians from the 20 strong longlists there are eight books on each of the two lists.

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

Children's Book Award

The shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2020 has been announced. This is the award’s 40th Anniversary year and it remains the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. To mark the award’s 40th Anniversary, a new category on the shortlist celebrates the most popular books for teens.

read more...
NEW FUNDING FOR THE LITTLE REBELS AWARD

The Little Rebels Award for Radical Children’s Fiction has been boosted thanks to £3,500 in new funding from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, bringing the award’s prize money up to £2,000.

Little Rebels logo

read more...
LONGLISTS ANNOUNCED FOR 2020 CILIP CARNEGIE AND KATE GREENAWAY MEDALS

CKG logo

The longlists for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, have been announced.

read more...
LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2020 KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE

The longlist for the 2020 Klaus Flugge Prize has been announced. Now in its fifth year, the Klaus Flugge Prize is awarded to the most promising and exciting newcomer to children’s picture book illustration. It honours Klaus Flugge, founder of publisher Andersen Press and a supremely influential figure in picture books.

Look Up!

read more...
WHO WON THE LAUGH OUT LOUD BOOK AWARDS?

The winners of the Laugh Out Loud Book Awards 2020 have just been announced.

read more...
BRANFORD BOASE AWARD 2020: LONGLIST ANNOUNCED

Branford Boase Award logo

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