Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Hairy Holes #2 – Brenton E. McKenna

    Magabala Books Hachette Australia Apr 8, 2025 | 9781922777591 | RRP $17.99 It’s certainly been a long time since I reviewed one of Brenton McKenna’s books but it’s great to see that he continues to engage young readers with First Nations titles that are unique and innovative. This is the second in this series which combines a range of…

  • Gregor the Overlander: #1 The Underland Chronicles – Suzanne Collins

    Scholastic Australia April 2025 ISBN: 9781761648335 RRP: $19.99 First published in 2003, well before the Hunger Games, this is a well-loved adventure/fantasy that will both intrigue, delight and, at times, freak your kiddos out. There are always rats in sewers, this we know, and there have been stories about creatures of all kinds living under cities…

  • Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow. Nevermoor #4 – Jessica Townsend

    Hachette Australia April 2025 ISBN: 9780734421029  $18.99 If you saw my recent excited posts regarding Nevermoor and finally meeting Jessica Townsend, you will also realise how mad keen I was to read this. I started it the Friday night after the event and finished it the following Thursday – all 660ish pages of it! I…

  • Resist: a story of D-Day – Alaz Gratz

    Scholastic Australia April 2025 Imprint: Scholastic Inc ISBN: 9781761649172 RRP: $12.99 If anyone is confused and feels like they have seen this, or heard of it, some years ago, here’s what author Alan Gratz explains: The physical paperback version of Resist was something I wrote as an exclusive giveaway for Scholastic’s Book Clubs in 2019. Scholastic gave…

  • The Counterfeit Bust: Riz Chester – R.A. Stephens. Illustrated by Em Hammond.

    Rhiza Press/Wombat Books May 2023 SKU: 9781761111181 $12.99 Here’s a quick one to promote a series that only recently came my way. As always Wombat books have hit a nail squarely on the head with Riz Chester. She’s an ordinary kid, doesn’t do anything that’s remarkable, pretty average at school but she is observant. In…

  • Hey, Zazou! – Tony Thompson

    Ford St Publishing April 2025 ISBN: 9781922696410 RRP: $19.95 Here’s another fabulous historical fiction that I not only really enjoyed reading, but loved writing notes for as I discovered a whole other side to the Paris Occupation in World War II of which I was completely unaware. I knew about the Swing Kids in Germany…

  • Doom of the Darkwing: How to Train Your Dragon School #1- Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia May, 2025 | 9781444981926 | RRP $16.99 Imprint: Hodder Children’s Books If you read my review of the 20th anniversary edition of How to Train Your Dragon you will know how this series holds a special place in my heart, and will forever. So it’s super exciting that we get to enjoy a new series featuring our…

  • Down the Plot Hole – Annaleise Byrd

    Walker Books April 2025 ISBN13:9781760659059 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Annaleise Byrd’s second fractured fairytale is as highly amusing as the first. Basil and Terry resume their reading schedule, continuing on with Grimms’ Fairytales, though Basil is very uncertain about the whole idea of going back into fairytale with all its uncertainties – and dangers!…

  • The Marvellous Submarine -Zane Clayton Comber (The Marvellous Submarine, #1) Clayton Zane Comber. Connor McCammon

    Harper Collins Australia April 2025 This hails the start of a new series, co-written and illustrated by this pair from Kiama [one of my favourite places in the country] which will completely hook your young readers, particularly those who have been languishing for more Treehouse-like books. It is completely absurd and crazy and all the…

  • The Night Librarian – Christopher Lincoln

    Scholastic Australia Scholastic Australia January 2025 ISBN: 9781761643507 RRPP: $19.99 There was a lot to like about this one but as usual the graphic format, didn’t quite do it for me, which I freely admit is just a personal thing. There were definitely moments when I felt confused about sequences or even conversations but I…