Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe



  • The Garden of Broken Things – Freya Blackwood

    Harper Collins May 2024 We always know, when we hear there is a new Freya Blackwood on the horizon that it will be both beautiful and insightful. Freya’s incalculable talent for creating atmospheric narratives and illustrations has become a standard of excellence. Her numerous awards, including the coveted Kate Greenaway Medal in 2010 (for Harry Read more

  • National Reconciliation Week 2024 & Sorry Day

    My beautiful friend, Kirsty, asked me if I had some suggested titles/resources for Reconciliation Week and that was a prompt for me to create another post focused on First Nations titles and resources. I did also post one in 2023. Of course, there are [now] many books and resources to encourage cross-cultural embedding in your Read more

  • Grace the Amazing – Aleesah Darlison

    Wombat Books May 2024 ISBN: 9781761111174 RRP: $14.99 Eleven-year-old Grace is, in her imagination, Grace the Amazing – a skilled magican who dazzles with her wondrous feats of legerdemain. Certainly that’s how she visualises herself but in reality, it’s more like Grace the Impetuous… Grace the Truculent… Grace the No-Filter… Grace the Friendless. She is, Read more

  • Cheer Up, Blobfish! – Julie Murphy. Illustrated by Rachel Tribout.

    Affirm Press April 2024 AUD RRP $19.99 ISBN 9781922863966 Check out the adorable cover on this gem!! The Kid and I have long had a soft spot [so to speak] for blobfish, going way back to her days as mini-Attenborough, so this book was always on my radar. And really, who could go past that Read more

  • Begin Again: The Story of How We Got Here and Where We Might Go – Our Human Story. So Far. – Oliver Jeffers

    Harper Collins Australia November 2023 Oh yes, I know it’s taken me some time to get to this one, but it was quite deliberate. I’d heard a lot about it – though I haven’t read any actual reviews. I knew it was going to be profound and powerful, and I wanted to not just read Read more

  • Leo and Ralph – Peter Carnavas

    UQ Press February 2024 ISBN: 9780702266218 RRP: $16.99 I did have to wait a while to get my hands on this one, but thank you UQP for allowing me to do so at last 🙏. Not only because Peter is a ‘local’, and I’ve had the good fortune to meet with him, but because his Read more