Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Louder! – Kate Asquith

    A Guide to Finding Your Voice and Changing the World Harper Collins Australia August 2023 Young activists have made news often in recent years whether they are agitating for climate change, gun reform, LGBQTI+ rights, equality, immigrants/refugees rights, water, ending poverty, and more. And I know that when I talk with children as young as Read more

  • Mermedusa – Thomas Taylor

    Walker Books Book 5 of An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery Series September 2023 ISBN13: 9781529502138 Australia RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 When you’ve loved every minute of a series, it’s hard to say goodbye to it. So it is that in reading this fifth and final in the wonderful Eerie-on-Sea sequence, I tried hard to make it Read more

  • 7 Days of Dinner – Adam Liaw

    Easy Recipes From Meat-free Monday to Sunday Roasts Hardie Grant Books October 2023 ISBN: 9781743799765 RRP: $49.99 He had me at best-ever garlic bread! You know that meme about the hardest thing about adulting is trying to think what to have for dinner for the rest of your life? [by the way, watch this – Read more

  • A Twisted Tale Anthology: : Edited by Elizabeth Lim. Written by Elizabeth Lim, Liz Braswell, Jen Calonita, M.K. England, Livia Blackburne, Micol Ostow, Kristina Perez, Farrah Rochon

    Scholastic Australia November 2023 ISBN: 9781760269098 RRP: $29.99 The Twisted Tales were first recommended to me by one of my ChocLit (book club) readers a couple of years ago. She suggested we get them for the library, and that was an exceptional success. They were very literally never on the shelves and in high demand Read more

  • Lani and the Universe – Victoria Carless

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 I really enjoyed Victoria’s earlier book, Gus and the Starlight, so the invitation to write teaching notes for this new one was a great pleasure, and, of course, gave me a very early read of another fresh, funny and poignant MG novel. It’s been patiently awaiting review time for a Read more

  • Come on in 2024

    Here we go again! 2024 – wowzers! for those of my vintage, it’s the stuff of science fiction really, and yet, here we are living it. This has been a significant year for us. It marked my 30 years of teaching (late starter after raising kids), over 25 as a teacher-librarian, and, essentially, the beginning Read more

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