For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we’re giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.
In this episode we are joined by Andrea Reece who is the Managing Editor of the children’s book magazine Books for Keeps.
Started in the 1980s, Books for Keeps is a treasure trove of information about children’s books and authors. It includes reviews and recommendations, a news and events section and regular essays about topics in children’s literature, as well as an extensive digital archive going back over 40 years. It is a must read for anyone interested in children’s literature and reading.
Katy
0:11
Welcome
to
Mostly
Book
Talk.
I'm
Katy.
Ali
0:14
I'm
Ali.
And
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading,
we
are
sharing
a
series
of
short
conversations
with
people
who
are
involved
in
promoting
reading
with
young
people.
Katy
0:22
And
for
this
episode,
we
have
Andrea
Reese,
who
is
the
managing
editor
of
the
children's
book
magazine
Books
for
Keeps.
I
should
say
that
you
will
hear
Ali
comes
in
a
bit
late
to
this
interview,
so
she's
just
there
at
the
end.
Enjoy.
Katy
0:39
So
I'm
really
pleased
to
have
with
us
today
Andrea
Reece,
who
is
the
managing
editor
of
Books
for
Keeps,
which
is
an
online
children's
book
magazine,
and
she's
going
to
tell
us
all
about
it.
So
Andrea,
welcome.
Andrea
0:53
Thank
you
very
much.
Katy
0:54
And
do
you
want
to
just
start
by
telling
us
what
Books
for
Keeps
is?
Yes.
Andrea
0:57
So
Books
for
Keeps
is
the
leading
children's
online
review
journal
in
the
UK.
It
was
established
in
1980.
It's
been
around
a
long
time.
It
has
been
around
a
very
long
time.
And
we
publish
six
issues
a
year,
always
have
done.
So
January,
March,
May,
July,
September,
November.
And
in
each
issue,
we
will
run
a
major
interview
with
an
author.
The
very
first
one
was
Quentin
Blake.
This
issue
is
Patrick
Ness.
So
that
kind
of
gives
you
kind
of
scope.
It
used
to
be
a
magazine,
as
in
the
when
it
started,
that
was
all
there
was.
Katy
1:32
I
remember
getting
it.
I
did
used
to
get
it
as
a
magazine.
Andrea
1:35
I
have
all
of
the
issues,
two
copies
in
my
house.
And
they're
also
at
seven
stories,
if
anyone
wants
to
go
and
dig
them
out
there.
Oh.
And
then
it
was
2010
that
we
moved
it
on,
or
it
began
to
be
published
online
as
well.
And
then
I
think
it
was
about
2011
we
just
moved
it
completely
online.
And
at
that
point,
the
entire
archive
was
available.
And
then
in
2020,
we
moved
to
a
new
website.
And
in
fact,
again,
we
moved
the
entire
backlist
of
all
the
issues
dating
back
to
1980
onto
the
website.
So
the
entire
archive
is
available
at
the
clicks
of
various
buttons,
which
is
something
I'm
really
proud
that
we
managed
to
do
actually.
Katy
2:18
Yeah,
and
it's
a
treasure
trave,
isn't
it?
Because
you
can
search
through
it
and
find
reviews
of
books
from
all
years.
Andrea
2:24
Yes,
reviews
and
author
interviews
and
illustrator
interviews.
It's
the
whole
pantheon
of
contemporary
children's
books
is
represented
in
Books
for
Keeps.
And
although
keeping
it
going
is
not
easy
this
day
and
age,
but
I
think
it's
such
an
incredibly
valuable
and
also
a
unique
resource.
So
if
you
want
to
know
about
anything
that's
happened
in
children's
books
since
1980,
and
in
fact
prior
to
that,
because
while
we
are
still
reviewing
and
interviewing
new
authors,
obviously
interreviewing
new
books,
we
spend
also
time
looking
at
classics
or
books
that
were
once
classics,
and
that's
all
so
there's
that
looking
back
over
the
history
of
children's
books,
and
that's
something
that
continues
to
be
really
important
to
us
as
well.
So
we
have
authors
like
or
contributors
such
as
Brian
Alderson,
who
for
years
was
doing
a
classics
in
short
piece,
looking
at
all
sorts
of
books
from
the
1800s
as
well
as
the
and
some
from
the
1700s,
in
fact,
and
is
now
writing
valedictions
instead
because
he
has
this
incredible
library
of
children's
books,
which
he
is
donating
to
seven
stories,
and
as
he
hands
them
over,
he
writes
a
bit
about
each
one
for
us.
We
look
back
and
we
look
at
today
and
we
look
forward.
Katy
3:38
That's
amazing.
And
you
also
have
Darren
Chetty
in
K
Sands
Econogy
in
a
regular
column.
Andrea
3:43
Looking
at
the
history
of
Books
for
Keeps,
we've
always
been
eager
to
represent
diverse
voices.
That
was
something
that
Rosemary
Stones
was
the
editor
of
for
quite
a
long
time,
ran
the
other
award.
We
did
a
what
was
in
those
days
called
a
multicultural
publication,
just
highlighting
what
was
available.
That
was
in
the
80s,
probably
early
90s.
Yes,
I
asked
Darren
if
he
would
like
to
write
for
us,
having
come
across
something
he'd
written
that
I
thought
was
really
interesting,
and
he
involved
Karen,
Sans
O'Connor,
and
together
they
do
the
Beyond
the
Secret
Garden
article,
which
looks
at
representation
of
ethnic
minorities
in
children's
fiction
or
children's
literature.
And
that
again,
they've
looked
at
everything
from
sort
of
board
books
through
to
books
for
teenagers,
poetry
by
theme.
There's
an
interesting
one
on
Robinson
AIDS,
which
I
think
is
something
that
Darren's
particularly
interested
in.
So
it's
been
really
brilliant,
I
think,
to
bring
that
on
board.
It's
challenging
to
me
every
time
I
read
it.
I
think
it
makes
me
look
at
things
in
different
ways,
it
makes
me
aware
of
things
that
I
should
be
aware
of
that
I
haven't
been.
It's
absolutely
fascinating.
So
yeah,
we're
really
pleased
with
that.
Katy
4:51
It's
an
amazing
resource.
The
whole
publication
and
the
site
is
an
amazing
resource
and
definitely
a
place
to
go
to
if
you're
looking
for
books.
Because
you've
got
the
recommendations
by
age,
haven't
you?
Andrea
5:01
So
we
we've
always
done
them
by
age
range,
so
it's
under
five,
five
to
eight,
eight
to
ten,
which
is
tricky
now
because
then
it's
ten
to
fourteen
and
there's
quite
a
lot
of
crossover,
and
sometimes
I
put
them
in
both
the
degrees.
And
then
we
also
do
14
plus.
Which
is
also
tricky.
Yes,
actually,
yes.
And
then
we
do
books
about
children's
books.
So
we
review
books
that
have
been
written
about
children's
literature.
Katy
5:25
And
they're
really
interesting
for
teachers,
aren't
they?
Because
they're
an
interesting
kind
of
professional
development
resource
as
well.
Andrea
5:31
And
also
for
I
mean,
in
terms
of
who
Books
for
Keeps
is
for,
we
always
say
it's
anyone
really
with
an
interest
in
children's
books.
So
it's
teachers,
librarians,
authors,
illustrators,
students
of
children's
literature,
and
parents
as
well.
So
if
you
want
to
find
out
what
the
best
new
children's
books
are,
then
we're
the
place
to
go
to.
I
think
it
was
Rosemary
introduced
the
star
system
so
we
grade
everything
with
from
five
down
to
one
star,
and
where
five
is
outstanding
excellent
and
one
is
poor.
I
tend
not
to
publish
one-star
reviews
before
we
get
very
many.
But
occasionally,
occasionally,
if
it's
something,
for
example,
a
book
that's
being
really
hyped
for
whatever
reason
and
it's
not
very
good,
I
think
it's
just
worthwhile
saying
that.
And
obviously,
our
reviewers
are
all
experts
in
their
field,
so
they
might
be
lots
of
them
are
librarians
and
teachers
and
retired
librarians,
but
also
specialists
in
their
field
as
well.
And
we
and
quite
a
few
academics
as
well.
Katy
6:31
Yeah,
no,
but
it's
an
interesting
range,
and
it's
they're
always
interesting
perspectives
in
that
they're
not
just
uh
this
is
what
happens.
There's
always
a
bit
of
an
analysis
or
consideration
of
what
kind
of
reader
might
like
it
or
something
like
that.
I'm
with
you
on
that.
I
think
if
a
book,
if
you
haven't
got
something
nice
to
say
about
a
book,
then
probably
just
quietly
put
it
to
one
side.
But
I
know
what
you
mean
about
those
books
that
everyone's
they're
being
held
up
as
being
amazing,
and
you
think
a
bit
like
really?
Really?
So
are
you
doing
anything
special
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading?
Andrea
7:04
So
what
I
felt
like
we
needed
to
do,
so
what
we
also
do
lots
of
news
stories,
so
I
try
and
cover
everything
that's
happening
in
children's
books.
So
it's
really
helpful
when
people
actually
let
me
know
what's
going
on.
That's
brilliant.
Yeah.
And
I
think
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading,
part
of
what
we
will
be
doing
is
just
keeping
our
readers
up
to
date
with
new
initiatives
that
are
going
on
and
new
developments,
things
that
they
might
be
able
to
get
involved
in
depending
on
where
they
are.
So
in
our
forthcoming
issue,
I've
asked
National
Literacy
Trust
managers
from
different
parts
of
the
country
to
talk
about
the
initiatives
they're
working
on
and
what
they're
seeing
as
being
most
effective.
Because
it's
quite
nice
not
to
be
too
London-centric,
that's
always
a
danger.
So
that
will
be
happening.
So
we
will
be
reporting
on
all
of
that.
But
in
a
way,
my
feeling
is
that
Books
for
Geeps
is
just
made
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading,
especially
this
one.
Because
if
you
want
to
go
all
in
and
you
want
to
find
the
books
that
are
going
to
inspire
young
readers,
or
the
authors
that
they
might
be
interested
in,
or
the
types
of
stories,
pony
stories,
whatever.
Sorry,
I'm
really
into
pony
stories
at
the
moment.
I've
just
read
a
really
good
one.
Katy
8:12
I'm
just
gonna
let
Ali
Ali,
welcome.
Hello.
Hello.
So
we're
on
to
pony
stories.
I
was
just
about
to
ask,
have
you
read
JP
Rose's
ones?
Andrea
8:23
Yes,
I
have.
Yes,
and
I
absolutely
love
them.
Katy
8:26
Yeah,
yes.
We
interviewed
her,
and
she
is
just
so
into
horses.
It's
just
they
clearly
bring
her
a
lot
of
joy,
and
this
was
her
dream
project.
Yes.
Andrea
8:37
Oh,
I
absolutely
loved
it.
Yeah.
I
gave
it
to
a
reviewer
who
I
who
said,
Oh,
I
don't
think
I'm
quite
as
into
the
pony
stories
as
you
are,
but
she
also
really
loved
it,
so
I
was
happy
with
that.
That
was
good,
brilliant.
Right,
good.
Katy
8:49
So
the
first
thing
you're
doing
is
with
the
National
Literacy
Trust
looking
at
what
they're
doing
around
the
country.
Are
there
any
other
things
planned
for
uh
later
on
in
the
Andrea
8:56
uh
so
there'll
be
things
like
our
own
kind
of
this
is
how
you
could
use
the
national
year
of
reading
practically.
Uh
so
that
might
be
Charlotte
Hacking
wrote
a
really
interesting
piece
on
it
in
our
January
issue,
I
think,
about
ways
to
approach
it,
ways
to
make
the
most
of
the
national
year
of
reading,
and
there'll
be
features
like
that
coming
up
as
well.
And
yeah,
but
I
think
really
it
will
be
just
letting
people
know
what's
going
on
and
how
they
can
use
that
in
their
own
work,
whatever.
Katy
9:27
Because
you've
got
quite
a
useful
page,
haven't
you?
Is
it
I
can't
remember
it's
got
some
news
and
events.
Andrea
9:32
Yes,
we
always
have
our
uh
we
always
yeah,
have
news
pages,
and
then
obviously
in
our
editorials
we
try
and
round
up
what's
going
on,
let
people
know
about
that
kind
of
thing
as
well,
and
then
new
initiatives.
So
it
yeah,
I
think
it
really
is
letting
people
know
what's
happening.
I
think
I'll
do
more
of
the
kind
of
reports
from
around
the
country
because
I
think
that
will
be
really
interesting,
and
just
like
examples
of
so
I
I
interviewed
Frank
Cottrell
Boyce
when
he
became
children's
laureate,
and
he
was
really
interesting,
saying
there's
loads
of
really
good
initiatives,
and
it's
just
like
letting
people
know
this
works
for
these
people,
this
is
what
they've
found
out
on
their
own,
and
that's
let's
just
share
best
practice.
And
in
a
way,
I
think
the
National
Year
of
Reading
can
just
be
a
huge
opportunity
to
let
people
know
what
works,
how
to
get
kids
to
go
all
in
on
reading.
You
can't
force
someone
to
enjoy
something,
like
I
will
never
enjoy
ice
skating.
Books
aren't
never,
but
books
aren't
like
ice
skating,
there
are
so
many
and
such
a
huge
kind
of
wealth,
particularly
at
the
moment,
there
is
some
fantastic
publishing
going
on.
So
it's
just
let's
just
find
the
way
of
turning
reading
into.
I
really
like
the
National
Year
of
Reading
strategy
of
reading
being
a
social
thing.
And
I
think
getting,
I
think
Books
were
keeps,
I
hope,
has
always
been
a
way
of
prompting
conversations
about
reading.
And
I'd
I'd
like
us
to
facilitate
that
during
the
National
Year
of
Reading
even
more
than
ever,
really.
Katy
10:55
Yeah,
we
would
be
totally
with
that
in
terms
of
the
importance
of
talking
about
books
as
a
conversation
and
making
those
connections
with
people
to
talking
about
books
being
really
important.
Andrea
11:07
Talking
about
books
as
well,
or
just
enabling
people
to
start
those
conversations,
which
are
really
important
as
well.
Katy
11:13
And
I
think
resources
like
Books
for
Keeps
are
the
ones
because
it's
really
hard
for
teachers
and
adults,
parents
to
keep
up
to
date
with
everything.
And
you
walk
into
a
bookshop
and
it
can
be
quite
overwhelming
in
a
sense.
And
Ali
and
I
have
this
thing
of
watching,
you
know,
you
can't
help
it
when
you're
in
a
bookshop,
but
you're
over
hearing
those
conversations
that
parents
are
having
with
their
children
about
books.
And
there's
almost
always
one
that's
going,
but
I
don't
want
to
read
that
too
long.
It
looks
really
boring.
And
you
can
see
that
it's
a
parent
going,
but
it's
a
very
important
proper
book.
Ali
11:46
Or
I
love
this
when
I
was
a child
Andrea
11:48
that's
the
killer
line,
really,
isn't
it?
Ali
11:50
Yeah.
I
do
a
little
bit
of
what
about
this
book?
I
do
a
bit
of
that.
And
they're
like,
Do
you
work
here?
I'm
like,
no.
So
that
is
yeah.
Katy
12:00
Because
we
do
all
know
the
books
that
we
read.
Yeah,
exactly.
Andrea
12:03
I
did
get
my
daughter
to
read
The
Little
White
Horse,
which
was
my
all-time
favourite.
And
I've
got
two
daughters,
and
one
of
them
couldn't
get
on
with
it
at
all,
so
she's
excluded
now
from
Christmas.
But
the
other
one,
it
was
so
she
loved
it
as
much
as
I
did.
In
fact,
she
wanted
me
to
make
a
little
white
horse
riding
outfit
for
World
Book
Day.
Ali
12:23
Oh
wow,
which
was
that's
my
favourite
book
as
well.
Yeah,
love
that
book.
I
love
the
fact,
and
the
main
thing
about
I
mean,
it's
quite
an
old
book.
It
is
old.
But
the
main
thing
about
it
is
it's
has
a
female
heroine,
which
was
actually
quite
unusual.
You
know,
it
was
boys'
books
and
actually
chooses
just
Maria.
Maria
Merryweather
sorts
it
all
out.
Katy
12:44
Brilliant.
And
so
people
can
find
books
for
keeps
online,
very
easy
to
find
if
they
want
to.
Is
there
anything
in
terms
of
engaging
people
or
getting
them
involved
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading?
Is
there
anything
else
you
would
invite
them
to
do
or
encourage
them
to
do?
Just
come
and
find
you.
Or
are
you
going
to
be
doing
it
at
any
events
or
that
or
you
will
just
come
and
find
you
online?
Andrea
13:03
Yeah,
we
will
be.
I
think
that's
one
of
our
issues
is
we're
an
incredibly
small
team,
and
getting
out
to
events
is
just
quite
often,
it's
just
like
there's
nobody
to
do
it.
But
we
will
be
at
more
this
year,
and
we
do
have
informal
partnerships
with
UKLA
or
the
YLG.
So
you'll
you'll
find
us
at
places
like
that.
Although
I
tend
to
think
we
might
just
be
talking
to
the
converted
anyway,
really
at
those
events
like
everybody
should
know.
We
are
doing
more
with
teacher
training
colleges
these
days.
So
we
do
we've
had
people
from
different
colleges
working
as
interns
for
us
or
getting
work
experience,
and
that's
proved
really
interesting,
both
for
us
and
for
them,
I
hope.
And
so
we'll
be
doing
more
of
that
kind
of
thing
and
just
yeah,
trying
to
get
out
more.
But
we
do
we
rely
really
on
all
our
readers
to
tell
everybody
else
how
great
we
are.
Katy
13:59
So
that's
the
challenge
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading
is
for
people
who
know
about
Books
or
Keats
to
find
out
about
it
this
year,
to
pass
that
on.
Andrea
14:06
Just
to
tell
it
like
if
they
all
told
three
people,
that
would
be
amazing,
wouldn't
it?
Katy
14:11
Yeah.
That
would
be
brilliant.
And
then
so
there's
finally,
what
are
your
hopes
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading?
Do
you
hope
it
achieves?
Andrea
14:18
Yeah,
I
hope
I
hope
I
suppose
it
is
the
beginning
of
something
and
not
just,
oh
yeah,
reading,
we
did
that
last
year.
I
looked
back
at
our
report
on
the
end
of
the
1999
National
Year
of
Reading,
because
obviously
I
could
find
that
easily
in
Books
for
Keeps,
which
made
me
laugh
because
it
referred
to
the
National
Literacy
Trust
as
a
small
literacy-based
charity.
So
it's
grown,
grown
quite
a
bit
since
that
and
and
that
had
a
that
had
a
real
impact
and
it
did
change
people's
attitudes
to
reading.
It
looked
like
that
the
number
of
parents
who
were
reading
with
their
children
at
bedtime
had
gone
up
significantly.
So
I
hope
that
this
year's
National
Year
of
Reading
has
all
of
the
same
kind
of
impact.
So
it
does
make
people
understand
the
importance
and
the
joy
to
be
had
in
sharing
children's
books.
And
I
hope
it
works
in
the
go-all-in
kind
of
theme
in
that
it
it
moves
books
from
shifts
along
from
education
so
that
we
think
about
books
as
being
entertainment,
yes,
an
entertainment
form
that's
really
good
for
you,
but
one
that
you
would
do
because
you
really
want
to.
And
I
hope
that
the
initiatives
that
start
carry
on.
That's
what
I
would
really
like
to
see.
And
it's
libraries
in
schools
is
just
that's
a
brilliant
way
with
a
librarian
in
them,
would
be
a
fantastic
thing
to
see
carried
on
into
the
future,
because
that's
the
kind
of
thing
that
makes
all
the
difference.
It's
about
conversations
carrying
on
and
conversations
by
people
who
have
got
infused
as
well
and
informed
about
children's
books.
Yeah,
that's
what
I'd
like
to
see.
Katy
15:49
Brilliant.
Thank
you.
Ali
15:50
Brilliant.
Thank
you.