Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe



  • Dolls of Hope – Shirley Parenteau

      Walker Books March 2018 ISBN: 9780763677527 Imprint: Candlewick Australian RRP: $19.99 New Zealand RRP: $22.99   A companion book to The Ship of Dolls this continues the little known history of the Friendship Doll project of 1926, this time from the Japanese perspective. Chiyo Tamura has been raised in a very traditional rural Japanese family and has never Read more

  • Empathy and Books for Children

    At present our Junior School is focusing on developing empathy with our children and particularly the value of books/shared reading in this process (yay!) so it seems apt to collate some of my current review picture books that fit this agenda.   The Day War Came –   Nicola Davies/illustrated by Rebecca Cobb Walker Books Australia Read more

  • Sleep Sense – Dr Katharina Lederie

    Exisle Publishing May 2018 9781925335736 RRP $29.99 In this, her first book, international sleep expert Dr Lederie has given readers a highly accessible overview of not only the importance of sleep but the ‘mechanics’ of how our body utilises sleep and its various functions.  This is not a book designed to baffle the layperson but Read more

  • The Silver Hand – Terry Deary

    Bloomsbury Australia July 2018ISBN: 9781472929488 Imprint: Bloomsbury Education Series: Flashbacks RRP $14.99 We all know Terry Deary’s expertise in bring history to life – witness the success of Horrible Histories. Now he turns his hand to a lesser explored part of history in the closing days of the First World War, examining this through the Read more

  • Bring on the Empty Horses, so the old saying goes…….

    …though these are far from ’empty………..   As my village knows Miss Small has now been riding for about 18 months and is about to compete in her second show tomorrow (last show she got a first in her class of Beginner Rider!) so despite a lifetime in almost total ignorance of riding, except for Read more

  • The Mulberry Tree – Allison Rushby

      Walker Books ISBN: 9781760650292 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Release Date: July 1, 2018 Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99   Immy is not well pleased at moving to England from Sydney. Her mother has a new job which carries some prestige, but her father is floundering – his previous career as a GP slaughtered by a tragedy. Their Read more