Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Which Way Round the Galaxy – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia SEP 26, 2023 | 9781444973501 | RRP $22.99 IMPRINT: Hodder Children’s Books I’ve absolutely adored Cressida Cowell’s previous series – along with millions of others – but this newest one is just so crackerjack that I really think it is my favourite so far. This is the second instalment in this firecracker fantasy/adventure which centres on the…

  • Plume: Christmas Elf – Tania McCartney

    Hardie Grant Australia October 2023 ISBN: 9781741177923 RRP: $24.99 You would be hard-pressed to find a more sparkling author/illustrator than the ever-elegant, super-stylish, tremendously-talented Tania McCartney, and, therefore, how utterly appropriate that this beautiful new Plume story is just as sparkly as its creator. I have been in love with Plume since first meeting, having…

  • Alex Rider: Nightshade Revenge #14 – Anthony Horowitz

    Walker Books September 2023 ISBN13:9781529517422 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 My fondness for Alex’ adventures is pretty well-known, and some people may remember my huge excitement with an exchange I had with the boy spy’s creator, Anthony himself, when I did my promo for Alex’ 20th anniversary. Well I remember our collective sadness when we…

  • The Perilous Promotion of Trilby Moffat: Book 2 – Kate Temple

    Hachette July 2023  9780734420923 | RRP $16.99 | Imprint: Lothian Books I was getting a little worried I wasn’t going to get this one to review, and I have been waiting patiently for it since the day I finished the first one, but yayyyyyyy!! – thank you Hachette – for getting it to me (on Friday and…

  • This Spells Trouble – Paul Collins/Sean McMullen

    Ford St Publishing July 2023 ISBN:9781922696311 RRP: $17.95 This is just a riotous, joyful comic adventure from the very first page, and, I tell you now, your kids from middle school to upper will eat it up with relish! 14 year old Winton is apprenticed to a very dodgy wizard named Faramond – a lazy,…

  • Monster Island – George Ivanoff

    Penguin Australia Soooooooo, take a little Jurassic Park, a pinch of Big Foot, a handful of Little Shop of Horrors, a smidgin of mad scientists, a scoop of Bass Strait Triangle [like the Bermuda one, but closer] and an actual drop bear, and stir vigorously with some George Ivanoff – and voila! the perfect, albeit…

  • Drover – Neridah McMullin/Sarah Anthony

    Walker Books April 2023 ISBN13: 9781760653910 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 This is the remarkable story of an unusual woman and perhaps, for many, a previously uknown history. Edna Jessop was one of a kind. She is considered to be the first woman to lead a droving team and she did this, with passion, tenacity…

  • Blackbeard’s Treasure – Iszi Lawrence

    Bloomsbury Australia May 2023 ISBN 9781801990967 Imprint Bloomsbury Education RRP: $14.99 It’s been quite a long time since I’ve read a swashbuckling pirate adventure, and this was a good one to break that drought. It is adventure/historic novel based on facts about that period of time when pirates and privateers were roaming the waters, particularly…

  • The Mud Puddlers – Pamela Rushby

    Walker Books Australia April 2023 ISBN13:9781760655808 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 This ticks all my boxes in one fell swoop and I absolutely loved it. Mudlarking has long been a source of fascination for me and I would truly have loved the opportunity to explore it for myself. Now Pamela Rushby has combined this iconic…

  • Kensy and Max #10: Time’s Up – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia Fasten your seatbelts for one last rollercoaster ride with the intrepid twin spies, in their most difficult and worrying adventure/mission yet! When their closest family members begin disappearing – apparently kidnapped – the twins become increasingly isolated and anxious. With no ransom notes or other explanations, the snatching of their relatives seems completely…