Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Little Shop of Monsters – R. L. Stine. Illustrated by Marc Brown

    Hachette Australia ISBN:9780316348522 Publication date:25 Aug 2015 Page count:48 Imprint:Little, Brown Young Readers USA RR $14.99 So R. L. Stine drove us all crazy over the past decade or so with endless Goosebumps books – but hey! They got the kids reading didn’t they? Since then his books have moved into an older readership and Read more

  • Ugly – Robert Hoge

      ISBN: 9780733634338 Publication date: 11 Aug 2015 Page count: 160 Imprint: Hachette Australia RRP $16.99 It has taken me a while to get to review this Younger Readers’ version of Robert Hoge’s successful memoir. My Year 8 students have been working on an English task which was to research and write a feature article about an inspirational hero Read more

  • How to Train Your Dragon #12: How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Hodder Children’s Books ISBN: 9781444916584 Publication date: Sep 2015 RRP: $19.95 Without doubt the How to Train Your Dragon series has been a runaway success with avid readers from all over the world eagerly anticipating each subsequent instalment. The Dreamworks franchise which produced the movies has only built on the huge popularity Read more

  • The Vanilla Slice Kid – Adam Wallace & Jack Wodhams. Illustrated by Tom Gittus

    Ford St Publishing ISBN: 978-1-925272-02-4 Publication date: 1 October 2015 Extent: 144 pages Price: AUD$14.95 Well it’s clear we have our own contender to usurp Roald Dahl in the list of favourites for readers who love wacky and fantastical stories! When Archie Cunningham is born, it is apparent to his parents – a disgustingly greedy Read more

  • Display Time

    This year, rather than Halloween, I wanted to create a Day of the Dead feature. Of course,traditionally one would have photos of loved ones on the ofrenda but instead we have characters who have died in books. I found a fun free program which created ‘photo frames’ around each picture. They were laminated and a folded Read more

  • The Singing Bones – Shaun Tan

    Allen & Unwin Imprint; Allen & Unwin Children October 2015 ISBN 9781760111038 RRP $35.00 Along with many others a new work from Shaun Tan sends a frisson of expectation and the promise of delighted awe through me and The Singing Bones is no disappointment. From the first ‘picking up’, feeling the sleekness of the stylish Read more

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