Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Curiosities – Zana Fraillon/Phil Lesnie

    Hachette SEP 29, 2021 | 9780734417848 | RRP $26.99 Imprint: Lothian Books This is a sophisticated book in all senses so my inclination is that it is more suitable for sharing with older children, with whom one would be able to fully explore and unpack the subtleties both written and visual. Indeed, the teachers’ resources file is full of…

  • Toy Mountain – Stef Gemmill and Katharine Hall

    Exisle Publishing  9781925820966 EK Books RRP: $24.99 With Christmas literally around the corner this is a timely reminder about promoting sustainability, moderating our consumerism and caring for both our belongings and our earth. Sam has much-loved toys with which to play and share with baby Max, some of them being handed down from his grandma…

  • Shadowghast – Thomas Taylor

    Walker Books Australia September 2021 ISBN: 9781406386301Imprint: WalkerAustralian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It’s back to Eerie-on-Sea for another cracking and creepy mystery. In this new adventure a seriously spooky magician arrives in town, accompanied by henchmen, and purports to be Herbie’s long-lost aunt. She seems to enthrall the boy but his friend and ally, Violet, is far from…

  • Funny Kid Prank Ninjas [Funny Kid #10] – Matt Stanton

    Harper Collins September 2021 ISBN: 9780733340628 ISBN 10: 0733340628 Imprint: ABC Books AU List Price: 14.99 AUD I freely admit it. I’m not a huge fan of the many comic mega-series. They always seem to me to be very formulaic and same-same BUT I never find that in Matt’s books. Each Funny Kid I have read has provided delicious…

  • Girls Change the Game – Gabrielle Gloury/Michael Hyde

    Ford St Publishing April 2020 ISBN: 9781925804492 RRP: $14.99 Although the women’s version of Aussie Rules has been around since the early 20th century with regular competitions and state leagues being established over the years it wasn’t until 2017 that women’s AFL first became professionalised at a national level. Now with more 2 million viewers/followers,…

  • Pony – R. J. Palacio

    My review of this utterly fabulous book is now live at Kids Book Review – check it out and make sure you get a copy – you won’t be sorry!

  • Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Unicorn’s Christmas – Rhiannon Fielding/Chris Chatterton

    Penguin Australia November 2021 ISBN: 9780241489901 Imprint: Ladybird Format: Board Book RRP: $14.99 This series of bedtime books has been outrageously popular with little people everywhere – not to mention their adults who are the ones doing those repeated nightly readings! If you’re going to be on a perpetual looping playlist you want to be reading something you…

  • Banjo Tully – Justin D’Ath

    Ford St Publishing September 2021 ISBN: 9781925804904 RRP: $17.95 It was a hair salon day and as usual, I took a book with me – one I’d only unpacked from its box this morning – although I have some others still half-read, because I always love Justin’s writing. And this was no exception – I…

  • Harry Potter-ween!!

    So of course the piece de resistance of any batch of books, particularly at Halloween, is new HP ones and these two are absolute corkers!!! Bloomsbury Australia Harry Potter – Magical Creatures: a movie scrapbook Warner Bros September 2021 ISBN 9781526644299 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $29.99 Any HP fan would love this and if…

  • The Supernatural Survival Guide – George Ivanoff

    Penguin Australia September 2021 ISBN: 9781761043635 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $24.99 Here is the third in George’s Survival Guides and it’s not just in our house that each has been so anticipated. This one is totally going to tick boxes for a lot of your readers – and dare I say it, the geeky, the preppers, the curious, the…