Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Our Dreaming – Kirli Saunders/Dub Leffler

    SCHOLASTIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD August 2022 ISBN 9781742995113 RRP $24.99 Photo Credit: The Children’s Bookshop Goodjagah, little one, walk with me … I want to tell you our Dreaming as the Elders told it to me. Award-winning storytellers, Gunai woman Kirli Saunders and Bigambul man Dub Leffler, explore a deep love and respect for Country…

  • Tangki Tjuta Donkeys – Story and sculptures by Tjanpi Desert Weavers

    Allen & Unwin July 2022 Publisher/Imprint: A&U Children’s ISBN: 9781761180149 RRP: $24.99 I’ve been saving this one up for a while but I’ve already used it with several classes and, let me tell you, the kids have just loved it so much – both for the fun in the story and the fascination with the…

  • How We Came to Be: Surprising Sea Creatures – Sami Bayly

    Hachette September 2022 Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books ISBN 9780734421364  RRP $19.99 A delightful 1/2 class, at a local school which has a special focus on all things ‘ocean’, as it is located right on the very seafront, and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the depths of the brine with Sami. Dive on in and find out…

  • Attack of the Giant Baby – David Lucas. Illustrated by Bruce Ingman

    Bloomsbury Australia August 2022 ISBN 9781408899878 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $14.99 This was absolutely great fun to share with a lovely little class of Preppies who sat completely engrossed until about 2/3 of the way when the penny started to drop. The look of delight on their little faces as they realised what was…

  • Battle Mum – Zoë Foster Blake. Illustrated by Adele K. Thomas

    Penguin Australia 1 November 2022 Look, I’ve gotta be honest – anything with Karate Kid moves or ninja references and I’m in! In my experience, the same applies for kids. Ok, so maybe not all of them are actually across the Karate Kid (clearly because their education has been neglected) but definitely ninjas! For anyone…

  • Celebrating Picture Book Month

    Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November. Every day in November a picture will be celebrated by many of us that are champions for picture books because he/she thinks picture books are important. In this digital age where people think print is dead…

  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J. K. Rowling. Jim Kay (Illustrator)Neil Packer (Illustrator)

    Bloomsbury Publishing October 2022 ISBN 9781408845684 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $75.00 Readers of this blog will know of my passion for all things Harry and I have often shared the magnificence that comes my way via Bloomsbury Publishing (long may the prosper!). The fact that this is my favourite of all the original books,…

  • The Light in Everything – Katya Balen

    Bloomsbury Australia Bloomsbury Publishing Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books July 2022 ISBN 9781526647405 RRP: $14.99 This is the third of Katya’s books I have read and honestly, I love her writing more each time. She has such skill in creating believable characters with whom the reader can easily connect and her deft hand in giving them…

  • Which Way to Anywhere – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia September 2022 ISBN 9781444969047 | RRP $22.99 Well, if there’s anything more exciting in MG fiction than a new Cressida Cowell title, it’s a new Cressida Cowell series and this one is going to skyrocket I can assure you. K2 O’Hero (yes, he is named after the mountain) would appear, to all intents and purposes,…

  • The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat – Kate Temple

    Hachette September 2022 ISBN: 9780734420909  RRP: $16.99 This is just utterly fantastic from first page to last. So good that I gobbled it up in just two sittings in fact. Why is it so dangerous being Trilby Misso you may wonder? Well, because she finds herself in a unique position – inheriting the singular role…