Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Lila MacKay is Very Misunderstood – Gill Sims

    Harper Collins Australia December 2025 If you have followed and shrieked with laughter over Gill Sims’ FB posts Peter and Jane over the years or read her books e.g. the Why Mummy Drinks series , you will know instantly that this book is utterly hilarious. It is pure Gill Sims, with less sweary bits. Written… Read more

  • Letters from the Upside – Katya Balen

    Bloomsbury Publishing January 2026 ISBN: 9781526663931 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $16.99 I have eaten up every Katya Balen title that has come my way and they never disappoint. Each new story has its own fresh and original approach and, without fail, her characters are astonishingly vibrant and so completely authentic. Each and everyone pulls… Read more

  • UnBEARable – Kathryn Apel/Beau Wylie

    Scholastic Australia January 2026 We love a fractured fairytale – we do, we do!! By ‘we’ I mean those of us who teach – and regularly teach fairytales. And that’s as much a part of secondary literacy as it is primary-based. Traditional tales – in all their guises: fairytale, folk tale, myths, legends, Dreaming stories… Read more

  • I can’t review my own book..

    Well, I suppose I could but I won’t. However, I was super-excited yesterday to get a box from America with my author copies of my first book for the Creative Company which is also the first ever book written about the Roulettes. It is a beautiful hardback (library quality in US publishing jargon) and it… Read more

  • Ten-Word Tiny Tales – Joseph Coelho and Friends

    An anthology of brilliantly illustrated tales only ten words long, from former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and friends Walker Books Australia October 2025 ISBN13:9781529502688 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTIONSHORLISTED FOR THE ENGLISH 4-11 BOOK AWARDS LEICESTERSELECTED AS A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR I am so sorry that… Read more

  • The Sunbird: Young reader’s edition – Sara Haddad. Illustrations by Baraa Awoor.

    UQP February 2026 February 2026 ISBN: 9780702271076 RRP: $14.99 Sara Haddad has adapted her well-received and highly topical adult novella to this edition for younger readers. While most would try to shield children from the horrors of wars and genocides, there is no doubt that there would be some who know of the struggle for… Read more

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