Aliens Love Underpants

BfK No. 180 - January 2010

Cover Story
This issue’s cover illustration is from Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon. Cressida Cowell is interviewed by Clive Barnes. Thanks to Hodder Children’s Books for their help with this January cover.

BfK No. 180 Articles

Editorial – January 2010

News and comment from the Editor.

Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne on appreciating picture books

Anthony Browne discusses sources of inspiration.

Movables: Paper Engineering Techniques and Their Use and Development in Children’s Books

Mike Simkin and Rosemary Temperley explain.

Multi-lingual Storytelling

Anna McQuinn discusses storytelling with children with different home languages.

Authorgraph No.180: Cressida Cowell

Cressida Cowell interviewed by Clive Barnes

Sharon Creech: a writer who takes risks

Sharon Creech talks to Julia Eccleshare about her latest book.

BfK Briefing – January 2010

AWARDS

Hal’s Reading Diary – January 2010

Roger Mills on sharing the Harry Potter books at bedtime.

I Wish I’d Written…: Jeffy, the Burglar’s Cat

Hilda Offen chooses Ursula Moray Williams’s Jeffy, the Burglar’s Cat.

Good Reads: Trafalgar Junior School, Twickenham, Middlesex.

Reviews from pupils of Trafalgar Junior School Readers and Writers Club

Classics in Short No.79: When We Were Very Young

Brian Alderson on A A Milne’s When We Were Very Young

Aliens Love Underpants

Claire Freedman
Illustrated by Ben Cort

(Simon & Schuster Children's)

24pp, 978-1847385901, RRP £5.99, Board book

Under 5s Pre-School/Nursery/Infant

Buy "Aliens Love Underpants!" on Amazon

The aliens arrive on earth set on finding themselves some underpants and, to the delight of these ‘pantomaniacs’, earthling pants come in all manner of colours, shapes and sizes. What’s more those humans have the habit of displaying said pants on lines for all and sundry to see and – well they’re just the thing for a spot of alien athletics.

Told in rhyme, this tale zings along zanily, though one needs to be an accomplished reader aloud to maintain the rhythm throughout. For some strange reason, perhaps best known to aliens, the mere mention of underpants is enough to send your average four- or five-year-old into fits of giggles. Small wonder then, that this book in its original format, has already become a bestseller. I wonder though, about the appropriateness of board book format; one surely needs to be out of nappies to get the most from this book. I for one would far rather have seen a big book edition so that larger groups of children can, en masse, delight in the delicious details in Ben Cort’s riotous illustrations which further illuminate Claire Freedman’s verses. A winning combination if ever there was one.

Reviewer:

Jill Bennett

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 180

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

Under 5s

Winnie’s Amazing Pumpkin

Valerie Thomas

5
Morris the Mankiest Monster

Giles Andreae

5
Aliens Love Underpants

Claire Freedman

5
The Dolls’ House Fairy

Jane Ray

5
Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Emma Chichester Clark

5
Sleepy or Not, Mr Croc?

Jo Lodge

4
Cross Crocodile

Mwenye Hadithi

4
Red Riding Hood: A Pop-Up Book

Louise Rowe

4
Food Chain

M P Robertson

3

Ages 5-8

Tabby McTat

Julia Donaldson

5
Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency

Cressida Cowell

5
Red Ted and the Lost Things

Michael Rosen

5
Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella

James Mayhew

4
Christopher Nibble

Charlotte Middleton

4
Mrs Cockle’s Cat

Philippa Pearce

4
The Flight of the Mermaid

Gita Wolf
Sirish Rao

3
The Dunderheads

Paul Fleischman

3
Valentine’s Day

Berlie Doherty

3
Purple Class and the Half-Eaten Sweater

Sean Taylor

3
Number Rhymes: Tens and Teens

Opal Dunn

2
Choking Wolf ¦ Melting Snowman ¦ Injured Spider

Dosh Archer

0

Ages 8-10

Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses

5
Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café

Rupert Kingfisher

5
The Willoughbys

Lois Lowry

5
New and Collected Poems for Children

Carol Ann Duffy

5
The Squirrel’s Birthday and Other Parties ¦ Letters to Anyone and Everyone

Toon Tellegen

4
The Poison Garden

Sarah Singleton

4
Charlie Bone and the Red Knight

Jenny Nimmo

4
How Things Work

Conrad Mason

4
The Comic Strip History of Space

Sally Kindberg
Tracey Turner

4
Fabulous Bridges

Ian Graham

4
Bodies ¦ Creepy-Crawlies ¦ Dinosaurs ¦ Egyptians

Philip Ardagh

4
Midsummer Knight

Gregory Rogers

3
Mr Stink

David Walliams

3
Wolven

Di Toft

3
The New Children’s Encyclopedia

Author and Illustrator Unknown

2

Ages 10-14

Beyond the Barricade ¦ Chalkline

Deborah Ellis

5
The Secrets of Codes

Paul Lunde

5
Free? Stories Celebrating Human Rights

4
Desperate Measures

Laura Summers

4
No Such Thing as Dragons

Philip Reeve

4
The Crowfield Curse

Pat Walsh

4
Running Wild

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4
Hush, Hush

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4
The Credit Crunch

Colin Hynson

4
Out of Iraq: Refugees’ Stories in Words, Paintings and Music

Sybella Wilkes

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Aids ¦ Child Labour ¦ Hunger ¦ Poverty ¦ Violence ¦ War

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The Spitting Cobra

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What to do About Holly

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Under the Weather: Stories About Climate Change

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Where the Streets Had a Name

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The Death Defying Pepper Roux

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Tom Fletcher and the Three Wise Men

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Scat

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Wow! Earth ¦ Wow! Animal

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The Bride’s Farewell

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Shiver

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Books About Children's Books

BfK News

David Almond Short-Listed for The 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award

The Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) today announced the 2010 shortlist.

Five authors and five illustrators have been selected including David Almond.

The award, considered the most prestigious in international Children's literature, is given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made lasting contributions to children's literature.

The organisers of the Queen of Teen Award are preparing for this year's award and will shortly be inviting nominations.

Described as 'the sparkliest, most glamorous and certainly the pinkest award in the world of fiction' the Queen of Teen Award was founded in 2008 to celebrate writers for the tween and teen market. The first competition was a huge success, with tens of thousands of votes cast for a shortlist that included Meg Cabot, Cathy Cassidy, Jacqueline Wilson and the eventual winner Louise Rennison.

Blue Peter Book Award Winners Announced 2010

Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes is the winner of this year’s Blue Peter Book Awards. The results were announced on a special episode of Blue Peter broadcast 3 March on BBC One in honour of World Book Day.

Tara Books, the independent publisher from Chennai, south India, has won the 2010 Bologna Ragazzi Award for the handmade children's title, Do!

The award, which will be presented at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in March, is designed to acknowledge publishing houses from the Arab countries, Latin America, Asia and Africa that show great innovative talent.

Red House Children's Book Award 2010

Ten books are on the short-list for this year's Red House Children's Book Award, announced today, Monday 22nd February.

Kate Davies wins Waterstone's Children's Book prize

Debut author Katie Davies has won the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2010 for The Great Hamster Massacre (Simon and Schuster), a tale of a girl’s relentless quest for a pet hamster.

The School Library Association (SLA) this month launches a new Primary School Library Charter arguing that investment in school libraries must start early, and quoting the UK Convention on the Rights of the Child to make its case. Articles 13 of the Convention (‘freedom to see, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers’) and 17 (‘encourage the . . . dissemination of children’s books’) imply effective library provision, the SLA states.

Frances Lincoln have announced their acquisition of Barn Owl Books.

Ann Jungman, a popular author, started Barn Owl Books in 1999, carefully selecting out–of-print titles remembered as good reads by teachers, parents and grandparents alike, bringing the books back into print for a new generation of readers. She has been doing this, almost single-handed, ever since. Frances Lincoln have been Barn Owl’s distributors from the start.

Write Away Annual Conference May 2010

READ, PLAY, THINK, CREATE: generating delight in learning

This conference for teachers and librarians will provide:

The Tower Hamlets Book Award 2009

Winner:

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES

by Jeff Kinney, Puffin

The award is aimed at children aged 9 to 12 and the winning title is chosen by children in the borough. The award is now in its third year, with the selection and judging process running from March through to December.

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Aliens Love Underpants

BfK No. 180 Articles

Aliens Love Underpants

All Children's Book Reviews in BfK No. 180

Under 5s

Winnie’s Amazing Pumpkin

Morris the Mankiest Monster

Aliens Love Underpants

The Dolls’ House Fairy

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Sleepy or Not, Mr Croc?

Cross Crocodile

Red Riding Hood: A Pop-Up Book

Food Chain

Ages 5-8

Tabby McTat

Emily Brown and the Elephant Emergency

Red Ted and the Lost Things

Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella

Christopher Nibble

Mrs Cockle’s Cat

The Flight of the Mermaid

The Dunderheads

Valentine’s Day

Purple Class and the Half-Eaten Sweater

Number Rhymes: Tens and Teens

Choking Wolf ¦ Melting Snowman ¦ Injured Spider

Ages 8-10

Shapeshifters: Tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Madame Pamplemousse and the Time-Travelling Café

The Willoughbys

New and Collected Poems for Children

The Squirrel’s Birthday and Other Parties ¦ Letters to Anyone and Everyone

The Poison Garden

Charlie Bone and the Red Knight

How Things Work

The Comic Strip History of Space

Fabulous Bridges

Bodies ¦ Creepy-Crawlies ¦ Dinosaurs ¦ Egyptians

Midsummer Knight

Mr Stink

Wolven

The New Children’s Encyclopedia

Ages 10-14

Beyond the Barricade ¦ Chalkline

The Secrets of Codes

Free? Stories Celebrating Human Rights

Desperate Measures

No Such Thing as Dragons

The Crowfield Curse

Running Wild

Hush, Hush

The Credit Crunch

Out of Iraq: Refugees’ Stories in Words, Paintings and Music

Aids ¦ Child Labour ¦ Hunger ¦ Poverty ¦ Violence ¦ War

The Spitting Cobra

What to do About Holly

Under the Weather: Stories About Climate Change

Where the Streets Had a Name

The Death Defying Pepper Roux

Tom Fletcher and the Three Wise Men

Troubadour

The Glittering Eye

Scat

Sustainable Cities

Wow! Earth ¦ Wow! Animal

Ages 14+

The Bride’s Farewell

Girls to Total Goddesses

Shiver

Skinned

Books About Children's Books

The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault

1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up

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