Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Missing – Sue Whiting

    Walker Books Australia ISBN: 9781760650032 Imprint: Walker Books Australia March 1, 2018 Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 Right from the get-go this novel is full on with its action, mystery and poignancy. Thirteen year old Mackenzie is at a difficult time in her life leaving primary school and off to a private girls’ high school away from…

  • Oma’s Buttons – Tania Ingram/Jennifer Harrison

    Penguin Australia 9780143786573 April 2, 2018 Viking Imprint RRP$24.99   We grandmothers know there is a special bond between us and our grandchildren – some of us even more so than others.  Tania and Jennifer have produced a beautiful book which encapsulates just one aspect of this relationship.   So many of us would have…

  • The Book of Answers: an Ateban Cipher novel (Book #2) – A. L. Tait

    Hachette Mar 27, 2018 | 9780734417695 | Rrp $14.99 The intrepid outlaw girls and boys are back in the next exciting instalment of the Ateban Cipher – Gwyn, Merry, Scarlett along with Gabe and now Eddie (aka Prince Edward) are on a quest to deliver the Book of Secrets to the rightful recipient.  When Gabe first took charge of…

  • Flamingo Boy – Michael Morpurgo

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN: 9780008134648 ISBN 10: 0008134642 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB On Sale: 26/02/2018 RRP $19.99 With his expected flair Michael Morpurgo takes some history and transforms it into a fascinating and poignant narrative blending modern day and World War II. Young Vincent is about to take his final exams and is finding it difficult to focus and…

  • A Garden of Lilies: Improving Tales for Young Minds (From the World of Stella Montgomery) – Prudence a. Goodchild

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN:9780733338229 ISBN 10: 0733338224 Imprint: ABC Books – AU On Sale: 14/11/2017   Children,listen and take heed, As this little book you read. All your evil ways amend, Or you will meet a dreadful end.   For lovers of Stella Montgomery and her two highly successful narratives to date, comes a delightful little book which…

  • The Dollmaker of Krakow – R. M. Romero

      Penguin Random House Sep  2017 | 336 Pages | Middle Grade (8-12) ISBN: 9781406375633 ISBN-10: 1406375632 RRP $24.99  There is war. There is pain. But there is magic and there is hope. I’ve read many books both fictional and non-fiction concerning World War II and particularly the horror of the Holocaust but never have I read one that…

  • Bill Baillie: The Life and Adventures of a Pet Bilby – Ellis Rowan

    Publisher:   National Library of Australia Edition:   1st Edition ISBN:   9780642279200 Publication Date:   01 March 2018 RRP: $24.99   Aptly in time for Easter (Bilbies not Bunnies!!) this is a beautiful abridged adaptation of Ellis Rowan’s fictionalised account of the little orphan bilby she raised and kept as a pet. The original was published in 1908 as…

  • Libby in the Middle – Gwyneth Rees

    Bloomsbury Australia Published: 01-01-2018 ISBN: 9781408852774 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP $12.99   As my Kim would tell you being the middle of three girls is not a piece of cake for much of the time.  Libby is finding this truer than ever. Her older sister Bella, who used to be great company, is now…

  • The Thunderbolt Pony –Stacey Gregg

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN:9780008257019 ISBN 10: 0008257019 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB September 2017 RRP $26.99   Stacey Gregg’s series of which this is the fifth has been a stellar hit with my ‘horsey girls’. And though I’m not particularly horsey myself (aside from paying for Miss Small’s passion) I have thoroughly enjoyed them as well as each…

  • My Brigidista Year – Katherine Paterson

    Penguin Random House Candlewick  Press October 2017 RRp $16.99 ISBN 978-0-7636-9508-8 Winner of the Newbery Medal on two occasions, Katherine Paterson is a superb writer for children and now turns her hand to a historical narrative born out of personal interest. For many outside of America, including me, there is a scant knowledge of Castro’s…