Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Don’t Read the Comments – Eric Smith

    Harper Collins Australia January 2020 ISBN: 9781489295705 ISBN 10: 1489295704 Imprint: HQ Young Adult – US List Price: 19.99 AUD Ok, I admit it, I’d kind of let this one slide because really my scan of the blurb made me think – oh, gaming online – so not my kind of thing. WRONG! Because, yes it does revolve around…

  • What Zola did on Tuesday – Melina Marchetta

    Penguin Australia August 2020 ISBN: 9781760895167 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $12.99 I reviewed the first in this joyful series a little while back and now we have the delight of the second instalment which is just as gorgeous! Zola and her cousin over the back fence, Alessandro, would love to get to meet their new neighbours – more playmates!…

  • The Constant Rabbit – Jasper Fforde

    Hachette JUN 30, 2020 | 9781444763638 | RRP $32.99 In my opinion there are simply not enough books with rabbits as main characters (as she looks down at her rabbit-patterned PJs and rabbit-y slippers – well, what did you expect with my surname?). Jasper Fforde has brought his amazing brand of satirical humour to this new stand-alone novel and…

  • Clementine Rose: Collection Five – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia August 2020 ISBN: 9781760897437 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $19.99 Don’t wait around to get your hands on this fifth and final bind-up of stories about this delightful little girl! This collection contains Clementine Rose and the Wedding Wobbles, Clementine Rose and the Bake-Off Dilemma and Clementine Rose and the Best News Yet. In case you have been in iso for longer…

  • Kitty is not a Cat – Jess Black/Bogan Entertainment Solutions

    Hachette Lights Out JUL 28, 2020 | 9780734419750 | RRP $9.99 Teddy’s Bear JUL 28, 2020 | 9780734419774 | RRP $9.99 I no longer have a little person to watch such shows but by all accounts Kitty is not a Cat is a hugely successful animated series. A rather motley clowder of cats live together in a ramshackle old mansion, left to them…

  • Real Me. Real You? – Glenn Manton

    Glenn Manton May 2020 RRP: $17.99 Glenn Manton is not afraid to tackle big questions for young people and in the past twenty years he has done so as a well-known speaker. Those of us in secondary schools, in particular, have observed first-hand the confusion and misinformation that many of our students hold and in…

  • Where’s Spot? 40th Anniversary edition – Eric Hill

    Penguin Australia ISBN: 9780241446850 May 2020 $16.99 The cover image does not do this beauty justice – you need to see it for yourself in all its shiny ruby glory!! It’s almost my Jen’s birthday – she would have been turning 40 on 22nd of this month and how apt it is to be able to…

  • Living on Stolen Land – Ambelin Kwaymullina

    Magabala Books July 2020 ISBN 9781925936247 RRP: $22.99 In any other year we would be in the midst of NAIDOC celebrations but this has been no ordinary year for any of us. And given the global swell of awareness around the circumstances, past and present, of people of colour this is a most timely and…

  • The Unadoptables

    Hana Tooke Penguin Australia July 2020 ISBN: 9780241453612 Imprint: Puffin RRP $16.99 There is something about stories set in Holland that I find particularly appealing. Perhaps it is just the vicarious sight-seeing but for some reason they are always engaging and often quirky. This one is no exception. Combining adventure and mystery, family life, loyalty and very…

  • Happy Birthday Tashi!

    Allen & Unwin July 2020 The very fact that over the past twenty-five years Tashi books have sold well over a million copies is testament to the love that so many have for this very special boy. While magic and fun abound the Tashi stories also have a lot for children to absorb and learn…