Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Catch a Falling Star – Meg McKinlay

    Walker Books March 2019 ISBN: 9781925381207 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It’s 1979 and Frankie is just finishing primary school. Her dad has been dead, after a light plane crash over the ocean, for six years  and Frankie, her little brother Newt and her mum have been struggling along ever since. With their…

  • The Quiet at the End of the World – Lauren James

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781406375510 Imprint: Walker March 2019 Australian RRP: $16.99 New Zealand RRP: $18.99 To be honest, I’m totally not a sci-fi person but this novel had me completely engrossed from the first page. London: 2109. Population: 300. Sixteen year old Lowrie and seventeen year old Shen are the only remaining ‘children’ on Earth after a mystery virus,…

  • Bad Nana #1: Older but Not Wiser – Sophy Henn

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780008268053 ISBN 10: 0008268053 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB June 2018 RRP $17.99 Newly independent readers who love a giggle are bound to fall in love with Bad Nana and her granddaughter, Jeanie. Of course Bad Nana isn’t really bad – but she is cheeky and unconventional, most definitely mischievous, and certainly the type of granny…

  • Kensy and Max #3: Undercover – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Random House 9780143791904 March 5, 2019 Random House Australia Children’s   $16.99 Jacqueline Harvey has done it again with another super episode in her cracking new series about the two intrepid twins, Kensington and Maxim aka Kensy and Max.  The children’s parents are still MiA but news of them is filtering through and they…

  • Utterly Uber Usborne #2

    Lift-the-Flap Engineering Harper Collins ISBN: 9781474943659 ISBN 10: 1474943659 Imprint: Usborne – GB December 2018 List Price: 19.99 AUD A kid is never too old for a lift-the-flap book and that has been evidenced by the satisfying reaction of a little boy I know who has been fascinated by the ‘Bridges’ book in this series. I am super confident…

  • Utterly Uber Usborne

      Y’all know I’m a bit of a non-fiction geek ever since childhood so when I get a pile of Usborne books for all ages my nerdy heart just sings! Here are some of the riches I have been exploring of late.   True Stories: Polar Adventures – Paul Dowswell Harper Collins Imprint: Usborne November…

  • A Great Escape – Felice Arena

    Penguin Random House 9780143794042 March 2019 Puffin $16.99 I have never been a student of post-war modern history so my knowledge of the Cold War has always been minimal – sketchy even – but, as serendipity would have it, not one but two of my most recent audio ‘reads’ on my daily commute have referenced…

  • Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja – Kylie Howarth

        Walker Books ISBN: 9781760650810 Imprint: Walker Books Australia: February 1, 2019 Australian RRP: $14.99 New Zealand RRP: $16.99 If you have readers who love a good fun story with a bit of interesting information plus a smattering of a conservation message this will be a huge hit.  The first in a new series Kylie Howarth has set up…

  • Love Lie Repeat – Catherine Greer

    Penguin 9780143791225 March 5, 2019 $19.99 I’ve mentioned before that I have in recent times been somewhat disenchanted with many of the YA novels that have come my way. There have been a few exceptions. This one, debut novel and all, is an absolute corker! Annie and her ‘island girls’ (the kind you take with…

  • Truly Tan #7: Baffled – Jen Storer. Illustrated by Claire Robertson

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780733334139 ISBN-10: 073333413X Series: Truly Tan October 2018 Imprint: ABC Books RRP $16.99 Can I just say I truly love Tan? Yes sirree, I do! Since the first one I ever read I found this series very appealing and loads of fun. There is a real trend for detective/mystery/spy stories for younger readers but they don’t…