Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Outback Wonder – Juliet M. Sampson

    Brolga Publishing 2017 ISBN: 9781925367935 RRP $19.99 Many of you will be familiar with Juliet’s recent picture book, Grace’s Mystery Seed, which has been widely praised and garnered considerable accolades – and rightly so. However you may not be so well acquainted with her earlier novels which have also been positively received. Outback Wonder is Juliet’s…

  • Toffee – Sarah Crossan

    Bloomsbury June 2019 9781526608147 Bloomsbury YA RRP $14.99 Exquisitely, compellingly poignant and haunting, I was so happy that I took this to the hairdresser’s yesterday. It meant I could read it one sitting without feeling guilty about neglected house chores! I am not who I say I am. Marla isn’t who she thinks she is.…

  • The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle – Sophie Green

    Hachette JUL 23, 2019 | 9780733641169 | RRP $29.99   If you missed The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club which was a runaway success a couple of years ago you must make certain not to neglect this new novel from Sophie Green! Once again readers become heavily invested in the lives of the main characters; Marie,…

  • Mercy Point – Anna Snoekstra

    Harper Collins June 2019 ISBN: 9781460709887 ISBN 10: 1460709888 RRP: $19.99 For so many the teen years are times of angst, struggling for self-identity and confidence and feeling that one ‘fits in’. For a group of five young people in the Blue Mountains it’s even more fraught as all of them suspect they may be adopted and…

  • To the Moon and Back – Bryan Sullivan with Jackie French

    Harper Collins May 2019 ISBN: 9781460757741 ISBN 10: 1460757742 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU RRP 16.99 AUD In our library we marked the 50th anniversary of the moon landing before the holidays and I was quite taken aback to find that not only did we not have a copy of this 2005 winner of the Eve Pownall Award but that…

  • The Good Thieves – Katherine Rundell

    Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781526608130 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP $14.99 I have quickly become a fan of Katherine Rundell’s writing. After The Wolf Wilder and especially The Explorer (still the most visited blog post I’ve put up!) it would be hard to ignore such magical and adventurous narratives. Once again Katherine has put a group of…

  • The Pinballs – Betsy Byars

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780062881786 ISBN 10: 0062881787 Imprint: HarperCollins – US July 2019 List Price: 16.99 AUD   Now in her 90s award-winning American author Betsy Byars first published The Pinballs in 1977. As I re-read this new edition I wondered if she thought that perhaps the fate of some children might improve over time. It seems that the…

  • Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid – Jeff Kinney

    Penguin Random House 9781760892517 April  2019 Puffin RRP: $14.99   After 13 Wimpy Kid books the series shows no signs of losing any popularity – kids from 8 to 15 are still lapping them up voraciously.  However, if such an unlikely event were to occur, Jeff Kinney has come up with a superb new twist…

  • Startalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Young Readers Edition

    Penguin Random House Paperback | $17.99 Published by National Geographic Children’s Books Mar 20, 2018 Middle Grade (10 and up)| ISBN 9781426330872 Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist/author/TV and radio personality, has been a popular identity for decades and many young readers will know his special blend of pop culture, science and comedy particularly from the National Geographic.…

  • My Name is Not Peaseblossom – Jackie French

    Harper Collins June 2019 ISBN: 9781460754788 ISBN 10: 1460754786 List Price: 16.99 AUD     So as I chuckled my way through this (and truthfully at times snort-laughed) I thought to myself ‘I reckon Shakespeare would entirely approve of this retell’. After all, he did write to entertain or move people but he also wrote to subtly convey…