Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Picture Book Month extra: The Death of Dora Black: a Petticoat Police Mystery – Lainie Anderson

    Hachette Australia Aug 28, 2024 | 9780733652066 | RRP $32.99 What a thoroughly enjoyable read this has been over the past few nights! I’m a tragic when it comes to cosy crime and murder mystery books and over the past couple of years I’ve had quite a number of YA titles to review, and also listened to a few…

  • Courage be my Friend: the Vivian Bullwinkel Story – Jenny Davis

    Fremantle Press April 2024 ISBN: 9781760993726 RRP: $17.99 It would be completely unAustralian to not know the name of Vivian Bullwinkel and to know of her significant role in our history. But I’ll be honest in saying that I didn’t know very much beyond the general details. This is a fictionalised account of Vivian’s extraordinary courage…

  • Legend of the Lighthouse Moon – Helen Edwards

    Riveted Press Distributed by Simon & Schuster October 2024 ISBN13: 9781763526013 RRP: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 What an enchanting story Helen Edwards has created with its rich blend of history, legend, family and love! Set on Kangaroo Island in the 1970s, Mona McKenna and her little brother, Albert, live an idyllic family life in…

  • Design & Building on Country – Alison Page & Paul Memmott. Illustrations by Blak Douglas.

    Thames & Hudson September 2024 ISBN: 9781760763565 RRPP: $26.99 Back when I was teaching in my PYP school in Canberra, over ten years ago now, my Year 4s were doing a unit of inquiry focused on Technology and, of course, I was to partner their unit in the library. To me it was an obvious choice…

  • Marion and the Forty Thieves – Sarah Luke

    NLA July 2024 I grew up in Sydney and I was a kid with a thirst for history, particularly of my home town. I loved my excursions to the Rocks and being taken into the city on outings with my father, also a history tragic. Yet I knew nothing of the reformatories set up for…

  • Jack’s Island – Norman Jorgensen

    Fremantle Press January 2024 ISBN: 9781760992958 RRP: $17.99 Since its initial publication in 2008, Norman Jorgensen’s award-winning historical novel has proven not only an enduring popular choice for many class novel studies, but as a first-rate adventure constantly in circulation among readers from around Year 5 to Year 8. Based on stories from his own father,…

  • The Opal Dinosaur – Yvonne Mes. Illustrated by Sylvia Morris.

    CSIRO Publishing  August 2024 | $ 24.99ISBN: 9781486316793  Local Brisbane author Yvonne Mes has created a fascinating narrative non-fiction which kiddos will love, particularly that ever-present cohort of dino-philes. Turning the extraordinary discovery of opalised fossils in Lightning Ridge, by miner, Bob Foster, in 2019 into a drama-filled tale that outlines the fate of one…

  • The Riding Gallery – Sally Murphy. Illustrated by Martina Heiduczek

    Walker Books Australia July 2024 ISBN13:9781760657345 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Yes, I said not so long ago that I’m not a huge fan of verse novels, and there are only a few exceptions. Sally Murphy’s are one of those rare anomalies. Each one is so utterly absorbing, with such beautiful narrative flow that I…

  • Tearaway Coach – Neridah McMullin/Andrew McLean

    Walker Books Australia April 2024 ISBN13:9781760653170 Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP:$28.99 I’m certain that everyone has caught onto Neridah McMullin’s stunning historical picture books, but then again, there are always some who are late to the party. This is the latest, and is both a rousing adventure and a fascinating slice of history that will…

  • The Adventures of William Brambleberry: Aviator Mouse – Geneviève Hopkins. Illustrated by Alexandra Heazlewood.

    Brambleberry Press ISBN: 978064815520 RRP: $23.99 From the first moment I saw this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it. How could I not… as the daughter of an WWII RAF crewie, albeit different squadron and different aircraft? When absolutely adorable softie William arrived with my copy from Geneviève, I was…