Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 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…

  • Back to Business!! – 2025: 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II

    Thanks for your hanging in there while I took a little break. I got four readers drafted for the American publisher – let’s see how much editing will ensue! And I’ve picked up three new commissions for teaching notes in the space of two days (!!): one direct from one of our leading authors, and…

  • Nan and Me series – Natasha Weribone

    Nan, Why Don’t I Look Like You? – Book 1 Nan & Me Series Paperback ISBN:  978-1-7640638-0-7 Hardcopy ISBN: 978-1-7640638-7-6 Digital online ISBN: 978-1-7640638-5-2 Nan, Where Did We Come From? – Book 2 Nan & Me Series Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7640638-1-4 Hardcopy ISBN: 978-1-7640638-8-3 Digital online ISBN: 978-1-7640638-6-9 It gives me tremendous pleasure to start off this year’s NAIDOC reviews with these two titles…

  • 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…

  • Inconvenient Women: Australian radical writers 1900–1970 – Jacqueline Kent

    UNSW Press 9781742237503 / May 2025 / RRP $34.99 You might guess that long extended adult reads do not happen all that often for me. I’m generally so snowed under reading kids lit that squeezing in the adult books is a mission – and usually reserved for the days at the beach while The Kid surfs or my occasional…

  • The Girl in the Painting – Dee White. Illustrated by Sarah Anthony.

    Walker Books Australia June 2025 ISBN13:9781760657444 Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP:$28.99 Dee White is one of the most skilled creators I know – and, happily, I can call her my friend as well. Her talent, which ranges across dramatic middle grade novels to humorous narrative non-fiction, instructional primers for teachers and parents, magazine articles and…

  • Learning Country: a First Nations Journey Around Australia’s Traditional Place Names – Ryhia Dank

    Harper Collins Australia Ryhia Dank is a Gudanji/Wakaja woman who grew up in a remote community in the Gulf of Carpentaria. She got to know her Country though the stories her family told, and through walking in the places and footprints her family has travelled since the beginning. Her painting is storywork, and tells stories…

  • Desert Tracks -Marly Wells & Linda Wells

    Magabala Books May 2025 978-1-922777-66-9 RRP. $22.99 What an absolutely sensational book this is! Easy to see why it won the Daisy Utemorrah Award! And I’m going to say right now, this is one you not only need for your collection, but need to actively promote to your staff, especially those of you looking to…

  • On Gallant Wings – Helen Edwards

    Riveted Press April 2025 Distributed by Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9781763526051 LIST PRICE: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 I can completely relate to author Helen Edward’s comment in her notes that she knew little about the Japanese attack on Darwin. I was certainly the same. Growing up in the late 50s/60s, I knew more about…

  • Blak ANZAC Day

    You are correct. I did say the blog was having a break until after ANZAC Day but when Big Sky Publishing sent me these which arrived today (16th) how could I not read and review them to mark ANZAC 2025. You might already have them or not but be well advised to do so, if…