Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • This is Home: Essential Australian Poems for Children – Selected by Jackie French, Illustrated by Tania McCartney

    Publisher:   National Library of Australia ISBN:   9780642279385 01 April 2019 RRP: $34.99 Why yes, some readers of this blog will already know that not only am I non-fiction nerd since childhood but also a poetry nerd. I openly admit this to the children at school who are sometimes a little (?!) resistant to poetry. Of course,…

  • All Are Welcome – Alexandra Penfold/Suzanne Kaufman

    Bloomsbury Australia February 2019 ISBN: 9781526604071 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children RRP: $14.99 I deliberately saved this one to time with Harmony Day since it is a perfect expression of what we want to convey to our children as they grow up in a world where so many adults are blindly ignorant of the true meaning of…

  • Animal Crackers

        Now that the pile of review novels is finally getting to a stage that could be described as semi-tamed, it’s time to get stuck into plethora picture books. So here are some animal-focused ones to get into – because we all know that our little readers just love a great animal story and…

  • The Secret Key (Agatha Oddly: #1) – Lena Jones

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780008211837 ISBN 10: 0008211833 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB June 2018 List Price: 14.99 AUD Here’s a brilliant new girl detective series for all your lovers of this ever popular genre and this one is for slightly older girls. How can anyone resist someone named after the Queen of detective fiction herself? Agatha Oddlow is thirteen years…

  • The Little Grey Girl (The Wild Magic trilogy #2) – Celine Kiernan.

    Walker Australia ISBN: 9781406373929 Imprint: Walker February 1, 2019 Australian RRP: $16.99 New Zealand RRP: $18.99 I absolutely loved Begone the Raggedy Witches which was the first in this trilogy so was pretty chuffed when this second instalment arrived. The Queen and her raggedy witches have been routed and Mup’s Ma is the new queen having taken her rightful…

  • The Train to Impossible Places: a Cursed Delivery –   P. G. Bell

    Harper Collins November 2018 ISBN: 9781474948616 ISBN 10: 1474948618 Imprint: Usborne – GB List Price: 19.99 AUD Like Suzy you would no doubt be astonished to wake up in the middle of the night to find a very grumpy troll laying railway tracks straight through your house.  And even more astounded when a gigantic steam train comes rumbling through…

  • One Tree – Christopher Cheng & Bruce Whatley

      Penguin Random House 9780143786733 April 2, 2019 Puffin   RRP: $24.99 Once Grandfather lived at the top of a mountain next to the tallest tree. Even down in the village market his house was a landmark for all to see but as the land changed so did Grandfather’s life. In those days he told…

  • Pirate Pug: The Dog who Rocked the Boat – Laura James/Eglantine Ceulemans

      Bloomsbury Australia February 2019 ISBN 9781408895948 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books Series: The Adventures of Pug RRP $12.99 This is the fourth in this hugely funny series for newly independent readers and just as hilarious as the earlier ones. Pug and his owner, Lady Miranda, seem to encounter all kinds of mischief and mishaps whenever…

  • Let’s Celebrate Books 2019

    A few weeks ago my beautiful friends at Penguin Random House sent me the loveliest box of goodies – some gorgeous Puffin books both new and classic from board book to YA – along with a whole pile of delicious things to share like activities and stickers. Did you know that Puffin books, the children’s…

  • Catch a Falling Star – Meg McKinlay

    Walker Books March 2019 ISBN: 9781925381207 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It’s 1979 and Frankie is just finishing primary school. Her dad has been dead, after a light plane crash over the ocean, for six years  and Frankie, her little brother Newt and her mum have been struggling along ever since. With their…