Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Quoll – Christopher Cheng. Illustrated by Cindy Lane

    Walker Books Australia July 2025 ISBN13:9781760655679 Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP:$28.99 You know before you even open the book that it’s going to be magnificent when the Christopher Cheng name is on the cover. And with quolls excitingly in the news in the last few months, this is a very timely and most excellent new…

  • Celebrating Science Week…

  • Cock-a-doodle-doo! – Pamela Allen

    Penguin Australia August 2025 Or as Penguin have titled it on their website: Cock-a-Doodle-Doooo! What a living treasure is Pamela Allen! Now in her 91st year and still giving children such enormous pleasure. This is another of Pamela’s deceptively simple but so cleverly done narratives that will have your Smalls in fits of the giggles…

  • Cocka-two!

    Synchronicity is an odd thing at times, isn’t it? Just as one of my friends [hello, Sonia!] was telling me about her trials and tribulations with a manic cockatoo since moving into her new house, these two books arrived within a couple of days! We laughed – in that bitterly ironic way that one does…

  • The Mushroom in the Sky – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia July 2025 If there’s anything more exciting than new Jackie French historical fiction, it’s getting your hands on it before anyone else and writing teaching notes for it. In light of the 80th Anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing coming up (and ergo, the end of the War in the Pacific), Jackie French…

  • Fast Fish – Gregg Dreise

    Magabala Books Hachette April 2025 | 9781922777751 | RRP $27.99 Have you ever seen a Gregg Dreise book less than spectacular? Yeah, nor me – and this one is another must-have resource for your collection. Gregg’s take on creating new and vibrant narratives based on old Dreaming tales is always both impressive and a fun learning journey for Smalls.…

  • Peculiar Parents- Stephanie Owen Reeder. Illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak.

    National Library of Australia 9781922507822 / 1 July 2025 / AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 One thing is a given. A book from Stephanie Owen Reeder will always be exceptional and I, for one, have been very much looking forward to this one. And just wait till you see it! On a gloomy weekend such as this one (as I write this)…

  • Detective Galileo- Peter Helliar. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner.

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 While I’m not a big fan of ‘celebrity’ authored books in general, and always ready to be unimpressed, I have to say that this isn’t dreadful at all. And, in particular, if you have some kiddos who are reluctant or struggling readers who should be moving upwards in their reading…

  • Roobee Roo x Two

    Hachette Australia Imprint; Lothian Children’s Books Roobee Roo: My Big Bedtime Book Jul 1, 2025 | 9780734422354 | RRP $14.99 Roobee Roo: My Magic ABC Pouch Jul 1, 2025 | 9780734422323 | RRP $14.99 It’s two more cuties in this adorable series from Nico and Candy Robertson [aren’t we lucky they decided to come live in the best country in the world?]. With…

  • Dianne Wolfer – Double Delight.

    Dianne’s talent as a writer is undeniable and her ability to write prose fiction, narrative non-fiction and picture books with equal ease sets her apart. Here are the two latest examples of her outstanding ability to capture the essence of a story as well as place and time, both of these reverbrating with a true…