Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • One Tree – Christopher Cheng & Bruce Whatley

      Penguin Random House 9780143786733 April 2, 2019 Puffin   RRP: $24.99 Once Grandfather lived at the top of a mountain next to the tallest tree. Even down in the village market his house was a landmark for all to see but as the land changed so did Grandfather’s life. In those days he told…

  • Pirate Pug: The Dog who Rocked the Boat – Laura James/Eglantine Ceulemans

      Bloomsbury Australia February 2019 ISBN 9781408895948 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books Series: The Adventures of Pug RRP $12.99 This is the fourth in this hugely funny series for newly independent readers and just as hilarious as the earlier ones. Pug and his owner, Lady Miranda, seem to encounter all kinds of mischief and mishaps whenever…

  • Let’s Celebrate Books 2019

    A few weeks ago my beautiful friends at Penguin Random House sent me the loveliest box of goodies – some gorgeous Puffin books both new and classic from board book to YA – along with a whole pile of delicious things to share like activities and stickers. Did you know that Puffin books, the children’s…

  • 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…