Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 52 Mondays – Anna Ciddor

      Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781760523480 Imprint: A & U Children Pub Date: March 2019 RRP $14.99   It would appear that Anna Ciddor and I must be of the same vintage as this fictionalised account of a year of her childhood and the many references to commonplace 60s objects and events resonate so readily.…

  • Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables On the Lookout: #3 – Tim Harris

    9780143793144 February 5, 2019 Puffin RRP: $14.99   Even those who have not been privileged enough to sip Himalayan tea with Mr Bambuckle are completely taken with the adventures of his class 12B. The continual struggle to defeat the pressures put upon them by short-sighted school admin individuals and to foster each child blossoming into…

  • 47 Degrees – Justin D’Ath

    Penguin Australia 9780143789079 January 8, 2019 Puffin RRP:  $16.99 Australia has more than its fair share of natural disasters. One only has to think about the events of the last week or so with the terrible floods in North Queensland and the raging fires in Tasmania. Arguably one of the very worst of these was…

  • The Middle of Nowhere [Usborne Modern Classics] – Geraldine McCaughrean

    Harper Collins October 2018 ISBN: 9781409570516 ISBN 10: 1409570517 Imprint: Usborne – GB List Price: 14.99 AUD Rarely have I read a book which so captures the Australian landscape, isolation and the deep abiding racism of times gone past which has been written by a non-Australian but this is superb. Taut, thrilling and anxiety-making the narrative follows the friendship…

  • Treasure of the Golden Skull: Maudlin Towers #2 – Chris Priestley

    Bloomsbury December 2018 ISBN: 9781408873106 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP : $14.99 AU $16.99 NZ Readers return to the wacky world of Maudlin Towers with Mildew and Sponge as they attempt to save their mouldering school from closure, due to its pecuniary troubles. Ever since the funds for the renovations disappeared in time (see the…

  • The Book of Three – Lloyd Alexander [Usborne Modern Classics]

    Harper Collins October 2018 ISBN: 9781474943444 ISBN 10: 1474943446 Imprint: Usborne – GB List Price: 14.99 AUD Lloyd Alexander was one of America’s most loved and respected children’s authors winning the Newbery Medal in 1969 and U.S. National Book Awards in 1971 and 1982. His most famous work The Chronicles of Prydain series entranced readers of all ages. The…

  • Shadow of the Centaurs- Saviour Pirotta

    Bloomsbury January 2019   ISBN: 9781472940254 Imprint: Bloomsbury Education RRP: $14.99 This is the fourth in this series but my first foray into the ancient world of scribe Nico and his slave friend Thrax who have become somewhat adept in solving most peculiar mysteries but it certainly won’t be the last. I loved the unravelling…

  • Bear in the Woods: Peski Kids #2 – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin 9780143788836 January 8, 2019 Puffin   $!6.99 R. A. Spratt has been entertaining readers hugely for some time now with Nanny Piggins and Friday Barnes and now with her new series The Peski Kids which is every bit as funny and quirky as her others. In this second instalment the Peskis are doing their…

  • The Whispers – Greg Howard

      Penguin 9780241367087 January 22, 2019 Puffin $14.99   Riley has not been coping so well since his mother disappeared. Neither his father nor his brother seems as concerned as he is. Even his much loved grandparents appear to be disengaged from his urgency to solve the mystery. His seemingly never-ending meetings with the police…

  • Leaving the Lyrebird Forest – Gary Crew. Illustrated by Julian Laffan.

    Hachette Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books September 2018 9780734418432 $16.99 Gary Crew has created a narrative which is not only redolent of the quintessential Australian bush life – which is now mostly disappeared from our landscape – but also encourages the reader to think about the future for both humans and wildlife. Are you lonely here?’…