Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Time Travelling with a Tortoise – Ross Welford

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of Ross Welford’s books that I have read. These adventures are chockful of adventure, humour, heart and a sense of the absurd, and every time I’ve pushed one into a reader’s hands they have come back for more. That, for me, says it…

  • Q&A with Idan Ben-Barak

    Welcome to Just So Stories Idan, and thank you for your time – you are the first Q&A for 2024 and I am so glad I get to kick off the year’s interviews with someone who is both interesting AND quirky! Yaay! Thanks for having me! First of all, I think many of us would…

  • Your Brain is a Lump of Goo – Idan Ben-Barak. Illustrated by Christopher Nielsen.

    Allen & Unwin January 2024 ISBN: 9781761180156 Imprint: Allen & Unwin Children’s RRP: $24.99 It’s difficult (for me at least) to realise that it’s now seven years since Idan burst into our libraries and classroom with the award-winning Do Not Lick This Book. This was a completely different interactive information book that blew away adults…

  • Wear a Purple Poppy: remembering animals in war – Fiona White. Illustrated by Kathleen O’Hagan

    Hachette Australia JAN 31, 2024 | 9780734421630 | RRP $24.99 I feel certain that there are many who will remember clearly the AWM publication M is for Mate, which was produced to coincide with the A is for Animals exhibition at the AWM, was short-listed for the 2010 CBCA Eve Pownall Award and distributed to schools. It was a…

  • Sense and Second-degree Murder – Tirzah Price

    Harper Collins Australia November 2023 Book #2 Jane Austen Murder Mysteries Now that I’ve read this one, I’d really like to get hold of #1 because this is a really top-notch, fresh take on detective stories. Of course, young ladies in Regency England did not pursue business, nor study chemistry and so on, but a…

  • For 60 000 Years- Maree Silva. Illustrator Rhys Paddick

    Scholastic Australia January 2024 ISBN: 9781760265274 RRP: $26.99 I am the first to say we are privileged to live in Australia, and I am grateful to have been born here. There is so much for which to be grateful, but there are also times I am ashamed of our national behaviour and attitudes (there will…

  • The Case of the Fishy Detective (Einstein the Penguin, Book 2) – Iona Rangeley

    Harper Collins Australia October 2023 I thoroughly enjoyed Einstein’s first outing, and enjoyed this second one just as much, particularly as it is often a challenge finding that next book for readers moving on from the easy chapter books to something with a little more substance and length. Ever since Imogen’s and Arthur’s first adventure…

  • New Home :Millie the Cutest Puppy in the World #1 – Cate Whittle. Illustrated by Nicky Johnston.

    Not only the cutest puppy but possibly the cutest book. Everything about this sweet new book from Cate Whittle and Nicky Johnston is just absolutely delightful, from the cover with it’s glossy accents to the endpapers, and everything between. Millie was a tiny puppy when she was left on the doorstep of St Bernard’s Home for…

  • Back to School!

    Well it is for our Qlder kiddos, and, naturally, for some there will be nervousness, trepidation, curiosity and surprises. I can’t think of any teacher I’ve ever known who has not done their utmost to make first days, and first weeks, as smooth and welcoming as possible. For little ones, as first-timers, it can be…

  • Finding My Bella Vita: A story of family, food, fame and working out who you are – Pia Miranda

    Hachette SEP 27, 2023 | 9780733649837 | RRP $34.99 I only quite recently re-watched Looking for Alibrandi, thoroughly enjoying it all over again, so was keen to read and review this memoir, simply on the strength of Pia’s amazing presence as Josie Alibrandi. And I was not disappointed, because her memoir is every bit as fresh, quirky and memorable as…