Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Bluey: Big Pop-up Book

    Penguin Australia October 2025 ISBN: 9781761353352 Imprint: Puffin Format: Board Book RRP: $34.99 This one is another big and bold and very simple one. There are five pop-ups each telling its own little story. From fairies in the garden to playtime at the creek. Each pop-up scene is a double spread, as you can see with a couple of… Read more

  • The Rose Field: The Book of Dust #3 – Philip Pullman

    Penguin Australia October 2025 ISBN: 9780241458709 Imprint: Penguin and David Fickling Books RRP: $34.99 It was a very long wait indeed and so many of us were very impatient indeed [no, it wasn’t just me!] – 2017 from the first to 2025 for the last. Not only did I revisit my reviews of #1 and #2 but I… Read more

  • Bluey: Bartlebee’s First Christmas

    Penguin Australia 4October 2025 ISBN: 9781761353376 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $19.99 So in the tiny board book Hooray Presents! we saw Bluey get a mini Heeler toy. Meet Bartlebee! Bluey is enchanted with this new friend and hurls him straight into all the family Christmas shenanigans including Classic Catches in the pool and being licked ‘hello’ by Socks. Bartlebee… Read more

  • First Knowledges Ceremony: All Our Yesterdays for Today – Wesley Enoch. Georgia Curran.

    Thames & Hudson August 20265ISBN: 9781760764074 RRP: $26.99 What is ceremony for many of us is not the same as Ceremony for our First Nations people. And while there are plenty of us who understand the purpose and meaning of some of these ceremonies, there are still just as many who are not only ignorant… Read more

  • A Barney Gumnut Christmas (Barney Gumnut #2)- Tamsin Ainslie

    Harper Collins Australia August 2025 ISBN: 9781460759721 ISBN 10: 1460759729 Imprint: HarperCollins Australia RRP: $24.99 Hmm, I don’t know why but I never saw the #1 Barney Gumnut [gives the HC crew the side-eye] which was surely some kind of oversight? Regardless, this is my first meeting with Barney and his friends and, honestly, I’m in love with… Read more

  • Best Australian Political Cartoons 2025 – edited by Russ Radcliffe.

    Scribe Publications 9781761381676 RRP: AUD$35.00 November 2025 Correct again! Not a Xmas book but a damned fine gift for someone – especially that hard to buy for Dad/Grandpa/Activist Aunty or other politically aware person in your fold. As well, I think this makes an excellent addition to any library collection for use in Media Studies,… Read more

Archived Reviews