Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Cora Seen and Heard – Zanni Louise

    Walker Books Australia May 2024 ISBN13:9781760657666 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 Zanni Louise has slam-dunked again with this new middle-grade novel which is an ideal read for your kiddos who love those books with a sensitive, not-so-confident protagonist who finds her own way into a more self-assured mental space. Once again, the setting is unusual…

  • The Last Bookwanderer: Pages & Co #6 – Anna James. Illustrations by Marco Guadolupi.

    Harper Collins Australia March 2024 Synchronicity has been a theme in my life the last few weeks and reading this was no exception. I started reading it two nights ago, the same day I started listening to David Mitchell’s Unruly on audio in the car. I’d enjoyed one of the early chapters in which DM,…

  • Shower Land #1: Break the Curse – Nat Amoore/James Hart

    Penguin Australia February 2024 Well, I’ve read a lot of ‘portal’ books. Portals that were books. Portals that were a piece of jewelry. Portals that were doorways…or mirrors…a wardrobe…a grandfather clock.. a railway platform or a board game – so many different types of portals. But, I have to say, I’ve never thought of a…

  • Saturday is Pancake Day – Bernadette Green/Daniel Gray-Barnett

    Scribble Kids Books / Scribe February 2024ISBN: 9781761380389 $24.99 I got some work with a Year 1 class last week and, as I do, picked a couple of new books from my review shelves to share. This was a choice simply because of its bright and happy feeling cover. With complete serendipity, it worked perfectly…

  • Aggie Flea Steals the Show – Tania Ingram. Illustrated by A. Yi

    When Tania told me that she thinks #2 Aggie is even funnier than the first, I said that’s a tough act to follow (and clearly, since it’s now a CBCA Notable, I’m not the only one to have a high opinion of #1) but I do think she could be right. Aggie is back and…

  • Pidge’s Poppies – Jan Andrews/Timothy Ide

    Ford St Publishing April 2024 ISBN: 9781922696380 RRP:$26.99 It is often strange how the planets align themselves at times. It was only a few months that I took The Kid to Canberra and we spent quite a bit of time at the War Memorial discussing points of interest such as her great-grandfather, Lancaster Bombers, the…

  • The Wonder of Small Things (Young Readers edition) – Vince Copley with Lea McInerney

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 Most readers of this blog know that my kids and grandies are Aboriginal – Wiradjuri mob. For my thirty+ years of teaching, I’ve been a learner of cross-cultural knowledge, embedded these perspectives in my teaching programmes and availed myself of every opportunity to find out more. But, I’ll be honest,…

  • Square Me, Round World: stories of growing up in a world not built for you – Chelsea Luker. Illustrated by Eliza Fricker.

    Connect Us Pyschology March 2024 ISBN: 978-0-646-88697-8 (Hardcover) RRP: $29.99 When asked if I was interested in reviewing this book, I was very pleased to accept. As many know, The Kid is one of those ‘Square Me’ people for whom we have been trying to find the right fit, it seems, almost all her life.…

  • Fledgewitch: A Dragons of Hallows #2 – Lian Tanner. Illustrated by Martina Heiduczek.

    Allen & Unwin April 2024 ISBN:9781761067365 Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $17.99 I absolutely fell in love with all things Hallow when I read Spellhound last year, and have been impatiently waiting for this second instalment to arrive (as Lian knows), [while The Kid has resigned herself to being called a minch-wiggin as…

  • Losing the Plot – Annaleise Byrd

    Walker Books Australia March 2024 ISBN13:9781760656409 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 It certainly gives me great pleasure to review this debut middle-grade novel from local (and indeed, almost neighbour) Annaleise Byrd. Your readers of such titles as Pages & Co and Inkspell, in which literature and real life mix and meld, will love this new…