Books for Keeps, the children's books review journal

Also a good time to mention that many of our #LittleRebelsAward shortlistees/winners are available for school visits.

To see our roll call of authors/illustrators in all of their rad glory: littlerebels.org/previous-sho...
#KidLitUK
#RadicalBooks
#PoliticalBooks

Part 5 - The Reading Crisis - Why children aren't reading and what we can do about it. - Mostly Book Talk In part 5 we continue looking at what works to support reading for pleasure, focusing more this time on opportunities for authors to engage with readers and the importance of wider family and community involvement and spaces to discover and talk a...

🎧 The Reading Crisis: Part 5 is live!

We're exploring how to support reading for pleasure through author engagement, family involvement & community spaces.

Featuring insights from Dapo Adeola, Sita Brahmachari, Louie Stowell & top literacy experts! 📚✨

Listen: https://loom.ly/beVjCIw

There is a bursary up for grabs for the YLG Conference #YLGOxford26 for someone that lives &/or works in London, from @ylglondon.bsky.social (ticket price only). Deadline to apply is 20th March, details in link below www.cilip.org.uk/events/Event...

Oops pub date 23 March.

A woman works at a computer inside a library.

We are very pleased to reveal the shortlists for the Libraries Connected Awards 2026, sponsored by OverDrive.

All nominees stand out for their commitment to going above and beyond their daily roles, delivering exceptional services for communities.

www.librariesconnected.org.uk/news/shortli...

"THE BIG GREENBOOKS 500 CLUB".

Since it started last year, with your amazing help, i've been able to send three schools £500 of books each.

We're now approaching the next £500, so today I'll be getting in touch with another school!

THANK YOU!

www.biggreenbookshop.com/big-green-bo...

#poetry

Brand new award to “recognise young people who have overcome challenge to discover the joy of reading.”

Fine-looking initiative from @barringtonstoke.bsky.social & @sla.org.uk (& fabulous bookish prizes!)

#KidLitUK

Do YOU need inspiration for #WorldBookDay? My WEBSITE contains loads of FREE poems for your edification: www.joshuaseigal.co.uk Sample poem below - enjoy! @worldbookdayuk.bsky.social @booksforkeeps.bsky.social @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social #BookSky #EduSky

We're delighted to share two special recordings by poets Jessica Mookherjee and Kayo Chingonyi of our primary and secondary calendar poems for March - 'The Door' by Miroslav Holub and 'Humming-Bird' by D. H. Lawrence 🗓️❤️

poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/hummin...
poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-do...

Logo for the Children's Book Award which is managed by the Federation of Children's Book Groups.

Big day for awards! The FCBG have revealed the shortlist for this year's Children's Book Award, the only award completely chosen by children. #FCBGCBA26 #kidlituk

Find out which favourite children's authors are on this year's list and congratulations to them all🎆
booksforkeeps.co.uk/childrens-bo...

Our NEW Book of the Week! 🌊
booksforkeeps.co.uk/review/the-u...

Composite with photos of three young people enjoying books published by dyslexia/reluctant reader specialists Barrington Stoke to promote the new Reader of the Year competition running in association with the School Library Association and launching today 2 March 2026.

Ahead of World Book Day, and to celebrate the National Year of Reading, the @sla.org.uk is launching a brand new Reader of the Year award in collaboration with @barringtonstoke.bsky.social

Find out more and nominate now! #kidlituk #booksky
booksforkeeps.co.uk/school-libra...

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Joe Todd-Stanton from his picturebook The Lost Robot, in which a broken toy finds saviours. From the tools to the tortoise, the many details of this happy scene are drawn with a fine, exact line in graphic novel style. Flying Eye Books 5 March @flyingeyebooks.bsky.social

#NewIllustrationoftheDay by London-based artist Natalia Shaloshvili from What a Small Cat Needs. Amusing kitten with a direct gaze, an orange umbrella, and wet gulls. Acrylic & watercolour, finished digitally. Enchanted Lion 5 March. Translated from Russian by Lena Traer. @enchantedlion.bsky.social

Photograph of author Philippa Leathley with the Books for Keeps logo and title: Imaginative Ink New interview with Philippa Leathely

Covers of the first two books in Philippa Leathley's Inkbound series: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo and Meticulous Jones and the Shadow Compass

"Inkbound carries the reader along on a current of imagination just like the magical ink river coursing through the city of New London."

NEW Books for Keeps interview! Philippa Leathley discusses her INKBOUND books with Tanja Jennings ✨#booksky #kidlituk

booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/imag...

An illustration of colourful books flying through a purple sky. Red text says Read it Forward! 10% of bookshop.org children's book sales go to BookTrust and Scottish Book Trust in February 2026.

Last chance to #ReadItForward💙📚

For one final day, the amazing @bookshop-org-uk.bsky.social will donate 10% of every children’s book sale (including pre-orders) to BookTrust and @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social – helping to get more children reading.

Don't miss it! Shop now: https://bit.ly/4rsegSW

It’s National Bird Day! Yes, today is National Bird Day in the UK – so here is one of the smallest birds, one of the most common birds, and the loudest singer for its size in British gardens! This poem is available …

Some of my favourite creatures are birds.

poetryroundabout.com/2025/01/08/i...

Poems and Fun at the V&A – The World’s Most Joyful Museum A lovely surprise this morning – a parcel arrived, and I was thrilled to find one of the poems I wrote for Young V&A (formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood) was featured inside this be…

Poems and Fun at the V&A - The World's Most Joyful Museum poetryroundabout.com/2026/02/05/p...

#NewIllustrationDay by Britta Teckentrup from her picturebook The Birthday. Big Hedgehog and Little Hedgehog in a pink twilight that illuminates the branches of trees and the patterns and textures of foliage, as they approach their silhouetted house. Prestel 3 March. @brittateckentrup.bsky.social

Billie Manning: Extraordinary Voices – The Tower Hamlets Junior Slam Hello, I’m Billie, Learning and Participation Coordinator at The Poetry Society. Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working on the Tower Hamlets Junior Slam, a long-running partners…

Billie Manning: Extraordinary Voices - The Tower Hamlets Junior Slam childrenspoetrysummit.com/2026/02/26/b...

The cover of the new Books for Keeps Book of the Week: The Upside-Down Lighthouse by Paddy Donnelly published by the O'Brien Press. It features Meara and Grandad in a smally rowing boat as they head towards an island with an updside down lighthouse. There are puffins and a gannet under the waves.

Our NEW Book of the Week is by a real #BooksforKeeps favourite, Paddy Donnelly. Go adventuring again with Meara and Grandad as they discover the magic of looking at things differently in THE UPSIDE-DOWN LIGHTHOUSE @theobrienpress.bsky.social
#kidlit #booksky

booksforkeeps.co.uk/review/the-u...

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay. Spread by Ruth Brown from her gorgeous new picturebook Tick-Tock Around the Clock: A day in the life of a cat. Stunning draughtsmanship in a wonderfully detailed handmade scene of the cat going out into the garden, with squirrels, birds, mouse, dog. Scallywag Press 3 March.

Cover of the book This Book Will Make You an Artist written by Ruth Millington and illustrated by Ellen Surrey, published by Nosy Crow. It won the ALCS Educational Writers' Award.

Cover of The Adventures of Rap Kid by MC Grammar. The author, aka Jacob Mitchell won the ALCS Ruth Rendell Award for Services to Literacy.

Congratulations to the winners of the @alcs.co.uk
Annual Awards, incl winners of the Educational Writers' Award, in partnership with @societyofauthors.bsky.social, and the Ruth Rendell Award for Services to Literacy, in partnership with @literacy-trust.bsky.social
booksforkeeps.co.uk/2026-alcs-an...

A copy of Palio, The Wildest Horse Race In The World by Marguerite Henry sits on a brown surface.

Good morning! Today's read is Palio, the Wildest Horse Race In The World by Marguerite Henry.

This evening, 9pm! (Set a reminder if you’re keen!)

Join #Carnegies2026 new age-inclusive longlist shadowing!🎉 Group leaders can select the appropriate books for their readers with our clear age guidance to create the best reading environment! Find out 👉 https://carnegies.co.uk/take-part/new-all-ages-longlist-shadowing-2026/

ICYMI the winners of the @ibc-reads.bsky.social Awards were announced last night. Congratulations to all the winners and the shortlisted authors and illustrators #booksky #kidlituk

#NewIllustrationOfTheDay by Alexander Mostov, from his Igor and the Mending Mice, about mice who teach a town to repair their clothes instead of buying new. Flat colour & defined shapes in a scene full of interest. Printed in the UK on recycled paper by Ivy Kids Eco 3 March. @quartokids.bsky.social

Congratulations to this year's IBC Awards, winners, the best UK-published inclusive children’s books (ages 1 - 9). This year also sees brand new @ibc-reads.bsky.social Children’s Choice Awards - congratulations to the winners of those too & to the judges! 🏅
booksforkeeps.co.uk/ibc-awards-2...