Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Well, That Was Unexpected – Jesse Q. Sutanto

    Harper Collins Australia November 2022 ISBN: 9780008501464 ISBN 10: 0008501467 Imprint: Electric Monkey List Price: 19.99 AUD In actual fact, this is hands down the most enjoyable YA novel I’ve read in a long time. Coincidentally, it is one of a posse of recent YAs that are Asian-focused in one way or another. Even more interesting perhaps is that… Read more

  • Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: the junior novelization – Bernard Waber

    Harper Collins Australia September 2022 SBN: 9780063256477 ISBN 10: 0063256479 Imprint: Clarion Books List Price: 12.99 AUD To be perfectly honest, until the trailers for the movie came out, I had never really heard of this series, although I think I’ve had at least one of the picture books (the original one?) in my collection at some point. Maybe… Read more

  • Friday Barnes 11: Last Chance – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia Published: 31 January 2023 ISBN: 9780143779247 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 Oh Friday, you just get betterer and betterer! Readers will remember my anecdote of the dismay felt by my coterie of Friday fans, when the ‘last’ in the (original) series was announced, and was confirmed by my (then) recent conversation with Rachel over afternoon tea. Subsequently –… Read more

  • Signs of Survival: a memoir of the Holocaust – Renee Hartman with Joshua M. Greene

    Scholastic November 2021 ISBN: 9781338753356 RRP: $28.25 I found out about this book via Mighty Girl about a week ago and was so pleased that not only had my local library acquired it very recently but that it was available. I read it last night in one sitting (just over 100 pages is all) and, trust… Read more

  • Lockwood & Co – Jonathan Stroud

    Penguin Australia 7 February 2023 ISBN: 9780241613122 Imprint: Penguin RRP: $18.99 Ten years ago I reviewed The Screaming Staircase and wrote: This new series from Jonathan Stroud is the first since the Bartimaeus Sequence which sold over six million copies, and was translated in over 35 languages. The fact that Universal Studios has already picked up the film… Read more

  • Willa and Woof 3: Grandparents for Hire – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia January 2023 ISBN: 9781761043338 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $12.99 It makes me very happy that my first review for 2023 is for my lovely friend, and über-talented creator, Jacqueline Harvey for #3 in her latest sensational series. Jacqueline has a sublime knack for creating character with whom readers can immediately connect, empathise and love, and Willa –… Read more

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