Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • RFDS Adventures #4 & #5 – George Ivanoff

      Fast Flight (RFDS #4) Random House Australia ISBN: 9780857988829 Published: 02/05/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP $14.99   Young Dillon is pretty much like any other boy of his age. He loves his cricket, his room is always pretty messy and he likes hanging with his best mate Jay. Pretty much the only thing that sets…

  • Clementine Rose and the Paris Puzzle (#12) – Jacqueline Harvey

    Random House Australia ISBN: 9780857987884 Published: 27/06/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s   RRP $14.99 With great timing for Bastille Day favourite of many Clementine Rose is off to Paris with her family – both the old and the new (following the engagement of her mother Clarissa and Drew). Clemmie is beside herself with excitement not only because…

  • Yong : the journey of an unworthy son – Janeen Brian

    ISBN: 9781925126297 Imprint: WALKER BOOKS AUST Distributor: Harper Collins Distribution Services for Australia and New Zealand August 1, 2016 RRP $16.99 There have been many accounts of the Chinese coming to Australia in the gold rush era both for adults and children but this is the first I have read which explores the history of some of these…

  • Bee & Me – Alison Jay

    Walker Books Australia Imprint: Old Barn Books July 2016 ISBN 9781910646052 RRP $24.99 When an exhausted bee flew into Alison Jay’s studio she revived it with some sugary water and the genesis of this beautiful book was underway. A wordless story about friendship and a gentle introduction to an important ecological issue, this is an…

  • Steve Goes to Carnival – Joshua Button & Robyn Wells

    Magabala Books Published: Jul 2016 ISBN: 9781925360219 RRP $24.95   What a joyous feel-good book this is! I suppose to be honest I wasn’t expecting a book from Magabala to be about a gorilla in Rio – but why not?! Steve is a gorilla and he lives in a zoo in Rio. His favourite person…

  • A Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals – Lucy Ruth Cummins

    Simon & Schuster Atheneum Books for Young Readers | 40 pages | ISBN 9781471147074 May 2016   There once was a hungry lion, a penguin (Well he was just here…), a little calico kitten (I could have sworn I just saw him…), a brown mouse (Now wait a second…), a bunny with floppy ears and…

  • Princess Betony and the Hobgoblin – Pamela Freeman/illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie

    ISBN: 9781921720260 Imprint: WALKER BOOKS AUST July 2016 RRP $12.99 This is a series new to me (thank you so much to Walker Books for adding me to your reviewer list!!) and I think it is just delightful judging by this one. Princess Betony is not exactly your average princess. She doesn’t much like wearing fussy dresses…

  • Jacky Ha-Ha – James Patterson, with Chris Grabenstein

    Random House Australia ISBN: 9781784754075 Published: 16/05/2016 Imprint: Arrow (Young)   RRP $15.99   The Middle School series from the James Patterson stable has been terrifically popular and as JP’s new character is introduced I foresee another avalanche of young readers. Since Jacky Hart first started school and had unkind kids make fun of her stuttering start (hence…

  • Sophie Someone – Hayley Long

    Allen & Unwin ISBN 9781471404894 Publisher: Bonnier Imprint: Hotkey Pub Date: June 2016 RRP $16.99 When Sophie was very young, around 4 or 5, she and her mother undertook a very hurried and confusing trip to Belgium. Sophie can clearly remember her mother tearing up their passports and stuffing them in a bin upon their…

  • Three – Justin D’Ath

    Ford St Publishing April 2016 ISBN: 9781925272277 Justin D’Ath seems to have a real gift for exciting adventure stories with tremendous appeal to both boys and girls. This novel is like a blockbuster thriller movie but for young readers and is just fabulous. Sunday or Sunny suspects nothing more than the usual school assembly as he…