Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Disappearing Circus – Helen Edwards/Kate Gordon

    Riveted Press July 2025 Distributed by Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9781763526099 RRP: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 I have taken my time with this, both the reading of it and the writing of the review. So much so, that I was strongly reminded of my Oddity review, four years ago, when I wrote: I read Read more

  • Song of a Thousand Seas – Zana Fraillon

    UQP September 2025 9780702266317 RRP: $14.99 I’ve made no secret of my admiration of and fascination with octopuses. Some will have read my review of A Journey Under the Water and also watched My Octopus Teacher, both of which increased my manifold interest in these amazing creatures. You may also have seen references to Octopolis, Read more

  • Indigenous Literacy Day

    It gives me such enormous pleasure to be able to showcase four new books from ILF to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day – and if you’ve missed it on your calendar, don’t despair! Just schedule your own event when you can – I know only too well how hard it can be fitting everything into our Read more

  • Childish – Morris Gleitzman

    Penguin Australia September 2025 Last year I talked up Tweet to anybody who would stand still long enough to listen. I still maintain it was one of my Top 5 MG novels for the year, and, certainly, one of Morris’ very best. Then – lo and behold! – along comes Childish and it’s another absolutely Read more

  • Mavis the Little Plane Spotter – Angela Toniolo. Shannon Melville

    Wombat Books March 2025 9781761111938 AUD$27.99, NZD$32.99 Yes, a little bit of a cheeky cheat to round off a week of Birdie Num Num posts with this one. But, in my defense, with a Father Bear who was RAF as well as a dear friend in adult life, Squadron Leader and later commercial pilot, Wal Read more

  • One Word and a Bird – Stephen Michael King

    Scholastic Australia April 2025 ISBN 9781761520860RRP $26.99 This one finishes off this week of Birdie Num Nums purely because of its title, because really it’s not all about birds. It’s about love and our own self-belief, the (sometimes lofty and impossible) standards we set for ourselves and how we navigate the world around us. Stephen Read more

Archived Reviews