Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • One Day – Shirley Marr. Michael Speechly

    Walker Books May 2025 ISBN13:9781760659790 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 Two acclaimed creators collaborating? Of course, it was bound to be sensational. And it is all that and more. According to Frog, Mayfly will be eaten up by the world, but what will it matter if she only lives for one day in any case. Read more

  • The Haunting of Fortune Farm – Sophie Kirtley

    Bloomsbury Australia January 2025 ISBN 9781526642783 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $16.99 I enjoyed Sophie Kirtley’s debut novel The Wild Way Home tremendously back in 2020 and though I haven’t read the intervening books (one novel, one picture book), I had high expectations of this one. I was not disappointed. This is another MG novel Read more

  • Spirit of the Crocodile – Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White

    Allen & Unwin March 2025 ISBN:978174331709 Imprint:A & U Children’s RRP: $19.99 Just last year some of my circle were saying we would love to see more Torres Strait Islander titles, particularly after the success of Our Flag, Our Story, so when this arrived I was very excited indeed. And this is a fantastic book Read more

  • Taronga for the Tinies

    Penguin Australia The surge in zoo and animal books is not just for the older readers. Here are some adorable board books for the Smallests in your circle. Taronga: We’re Going to the Zoo: Taronga Conservation Society Australia Cate James March 2025 RRP: $16.99 An outing to the zoo is always exciting with so many animals Read more

  • Teeth: You Only Get Two Sets – Magda Gargulakova. Illustrated by Marie Urbankova.

    New South Books Albatros Media April 2025 9788000072470/ AUD$26.99, NZD$32.99 All of us who have taught Smalls know the whole gap-toothed, lisping stages very well indeed. I foresee this book is going to be a big hit in both classrooms and libraries for those Preps-3s especially. Certainly I’d be taking full advantage of it and still Read more

  • Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West – Jacinta Liu & Freda Chiu

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books Mar 26, 2025 | 9780734421791 | RRP $24.99 I believe many of you will have experienced or know children with mixed cultural heritage, just as I have. Not just as an educator of many years, nor even the fact that I taught at many schools with vibrantly diverse communities. Even growing up in Read more

Archived Reviews