Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Creature Corridors – Billie Rooney and Anke Noack

    CSIRO Publishing February 2025 | $ 26.99ISBN: 9781486318100 For kiddos who love learning about nature and our wildlife (which is most of them really), this will be not only a fun read but informative as well. Quite a few will be able to make connections to their own neighbourhoods and environs, as even in more…

  • Alexander’s Outing – Pamela Allen

    Penguin Australia Who hasn’t shared the love with Alexander at some point, (or many even!) over the past 30 – THIRTY!! – years? And for those of us who are Sydney girls, it has always had a special place in our reading canon. My last outing with Alexander was about a year ago with a…

  • Lucky – Amelia Tonta & Peter Baldwin

    For those of us who have been in library mode as long as I have, this will bring back happy memories of hilarious sessions reading A Nice Walk in the Jungle but in this new Amelia Tonta [the artist formerly known as Amelia McInerney] book, the python in question is a pet of no scruples…

  • Somewhere Lost – Just Write for Kids and Friends

    ISBN: 9781763670051 May 2025 RRP: $26.99 Anthology contributors include (in alphabetical order): Michèle Dodd . Hannah Friend . Daniela Glyntzos . Jade Goodwin . Carla Hoffenberg . Jennifer Horn . Lellie Lopter . Lorraine & Jessica Miller . Mietta Postlethwaite . Rachael Robertson . Romi Sharp . Nandina Vines. Congratulations to all of our contributors and all of the entrants who submitted their remarkable illustration and text pieces to Picture It! 2024! About Just Write For Kids Australia…

  • Koala Koala – John Williamson. Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley.

    Penguin Australia April 2025 Koala, Koala – we love youSo soft in the fork of your tree . . .Koala, Koala – where will you goIf we take your gum trees away? I’ve mentioned my association with John along with koalas previously on this blog. While my fond memory is about Goodbye Blinky Bill, Koala…

  • World Bee Day – bee-yootiful bonus!

    Did you know that this Tuesday, May 20th is World Bee Day?  What is World Bee Day?With more than 20,000 identified bee species in the world, and the importance of bees to the world’s environment – not least to the production of both food and oxygen, World Bee Day  was initiated on May 20th, 2017 by the…

  • The Gift of a Good Death Our palliative dementia story – Lisa Twigg

    November 2024 I had great pleasure in reviewing Lisa’s first book 80 Years Without Dementia last year, not only because she is one of our friends from Redcliffe SLS but also because her story touches so many lives. This is particularly so for those of us who are older and have had the heartache of…

  • Apples not Orples – R. A. Stephens. Illustrated by Carmen Dougherty.

    Wombat Books/Rhiza Press October 2024 SKU: 9781761111693 RRP: $24.99 Without a doubt, having books that illustrate mathematical concepts are a commodity that are always welcome for classroom teachers. I used plenty in the few years of Year 1 classroom before I went to the library, and was always on the lookout for more afterwards, as…

  • Mr Duckins’ Chickens: Paw Prints series – Mick Elliott

    Walker Books June 2025 ISBN13:9781760659080 Australia RRP:$12.99 New Zealand RRP:$14.99 It’s a new series for your little newly independent readers who are ready to flap their reading wings a little more. At around 60 pages long and highly entertaining, it would also be a great ploy to introduce some of your more hesitant or reluctant…

  • This is a Ball 10th Anniversary Edition #1 Books that Drive Kids Crazy – Beck & Matt Stanton

    Harper Collins Australia April 2025 Doesn’t really seem possible that it’s 10 years since the extraordinary humour of the Stantons burst onto the scene, sending hordes of kids into absolute fits of laughter. Yet, here we are, the laughs kept on coming too, which was a great thing and there’s been a few I’ve reviewed…