Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World, #1) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins AustraliaMay 2026 ISBN: 9781460766545 RRP: $16.99 A new book from Jackie French is always exciting. When it heralds a new series even more so. And to top it off, I was able to read it and write notes for it, which was so cool especially as, some months ago, Jackie and I had some…

  • Duck Look Who’s Talking! (Duck, #1) – Matt Stanton

    Harper Collins Australia April 2026 Imprint: ABC Books AU ISBN: 9780733342059 RRP: $16.99 Matt Stanton is a king of comedic writing and don’t we know it! And I’m going to be very frank here [no, not Frank – just Los] I really do think the Funny Kid books are great but it was always Duck who was…

  • Time to Go to the Park – Emma Bowd/Leila Rudge

    Harper Collins Australia Imprint: HarperCollins AU ISBN: 9781460767245 RRP: $24.99 What a perfectly sweet and happy book this is to share with your favourite Smalls! It brings back many happy memories for me of parks and picnics with my own girls and then later The Kid [we still enjoy parks and picnics now she’s an adult -just…

  • Lexie Moon & the Remote Control Disaster – Melissa Garside and Lauren Mullinder

    Riveted Press Distributed by Simon & Schuster June 2026 ISBN13: 9781764256766 LIST PRICE: AU$ 12.99 / NZ$ 14.99 Hooray for #3 in the Lexie Moon series with this young inventor extraordinaire. In this new adventure, Lexie is constructing a ‘sauce bottle’ remote control car for an upcoming competition but is really having difficulties. Finding the…

  • Zac Power to the max!

    Hardie Grant April 2026 Mission Files #4 ISBN : 9781761217531 Publisher : Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing Imprint : Hardie Grant Children’s Mission Files #5 ISBN : 9781761217548 Publisher : Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing Imprint : Little Hare Mission Files #6 ISBN : 9781761217555 Publisher : Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing Imprint : Little Hare I am quite certain I’m not the only one who can say there were times in my libraries when I…

  • The Midlands – Kate Gordon

    Riveted Press April 2026) Distributed by Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9780645869378 $17.99 Kate Gordon has certainly forged a following since her first foray into publication. Some of her titles I have reviewed, others I have read but not reviewed but I definitely know which ones have received the positives and enthusiasms. I particularly enjoyed Whalesong.…

  • A Great Piratical Rumbustification

    Ok yes, we do know that pirates have been romanticised over the years and we also know that there are pirates in the modern world, including the ones in office politically but there is absolutely no denying that fictional pirates still hold a real fascination for readers both young and old. As it happens, three…

  • Dangerous Days: Frances Bloom #2 – Katrina Nannestad. Illustrated by Marina Zlatanova.

    Harper Collins Australia April 2026 ISBN: 9781460718612 ISBN 10: 1460718615 Imprint: ABC Books AU List Price: 17.99 AUD Madcap Frances Bloom is back in her second adventure to delight your younger readers with some more nonsense and 8-year-old anarchy. Only a week or so after the dreadful Ms Thistle has been carted off to the Harsh Island for Unwanted…

  • Mim and the Frazzled Fruit Farmer: The Travelling Bookshop #7 – Katrina Nannestad. Illustrated by Cheryl Orsini

    Harper Collins Australia February 202 ISBN: 9780733343131 ISBN 10: 0733343139 Imprint: ABC Books AU List Price: 16.99 AUD No doubt there will be many young readers who will be sad to know that this is the final chapter in this entertaining series but, dare I say, knowing Katrina’s fertile imagination and creativity there is sure to be something new…

  • Freddie Jones: The Mystery of the Ghostly Garden – Kate Foster

    Walker Books Australia May 2026 ISBN13:9781760659943 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 I am really loving this new series from Kate Foster, who writes not only entertaining narratives but ones that give us all a much clearer insight into neuro-diversity. Freddie is such a likeable character and his self-awareness, especially using the literary device of first-person…