Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Mother Earth: Poems to celebrate the wonder of nature – Libby Hathorn. Illustrated by Christina Booth.

    Hachette June 2023 9780734421555 | RRP $24.99 |Lothian Children’s Books Synchronicity is often amazing. Earlier this week a colleague was asking for suggestions for poetry for little people, and after much discussion and ideas, I picked this up from my bulging review shelves, and thought- PERFECT! Because the poems contained within are of a wide variety of Read more

  • Welcome to Sex – Dr Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes

    Your no-silly-questions guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out Hardie Grant May 2023 ISBN: 9781760509538 Publisher: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing So nearly twenty years ago when I was Head of Library in a large, co-ed college, transforming the library (as is my wont), I decided that our secondary library was in dire need of Read more

  • Bedtime Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia August 2023 It is a well-known fact in my circle, that R. A. Spratt habitually makes me snort-laugh. So I really had to prepare myself (and The Kid) for random outbursts of bizarre guffawing as I enjoyed my way through this gargantuan offering. There is something to please everyone here. Although, for me, Read more

  • Mistress Masham’s Repose – T. H. White

    So this is rather a different review, as it’s not for a new release. It is, in fact, for a book that was first published in 1946 by the wonderful T. H. White. I had, of course, read The Once and Future King series. In fact, I first read the The Sword in the Stone, Read more

  • The Daring Tale of Gloria the Great – Jacqueline Harvey. Illustrated by Kate Isobel Scott.

    Penguin Australia August 2023 I say it often, I miss my chookies (and there have been quite a few at numerous times over the years). Chooks have such personalities, and some of mine definitely did. Just such a hen is Gloria – indomitable, resilient and tenacious. She is her own chicken in every sense. In Read more

  • Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Puppet Sorcerer – Garth Nix

    Allen & Unwin August 2023 ISBN:9781761068393 Publisher: A&U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children RRP: $32.99 Ummm…….well……..where to start? Don’t get me wrong – I love this! In fact, I love all Garth’s writing, and always have. I had never read any of these stories before so I’m still getting my thoughts sorted, and this Read more

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