Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Fabish: the Horse that Braved a Bushfire – Neridah McMullin/Andrew McLean

    ISBN: 9781925266863 Allen & Unwin Imprint: A & U Children August 2016 RRP $24.99   When we read of the most calamitous events in history it is the displays of courage and heroism that lift us up from despair and provide us with hopefulness for the future. In many cases it is the bravery of…

  • The Shark Caller – Dianne Wolfer

    Random House Australia ISBN: 9780143780557 Published: 01/08/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s   RRP $17.99 I have never been to Papua New Guinea but strangely I have had so many numerous vicarious experiences with this near neighbour.  I have, particularly in the last few years, met so many people who have lived or worked in PNG and I…

  • So Wrong – Michael Wagner and Wayne Bryant

      Billy Goat Books August 2016 ISBN 9780994251756 RRP $14.99   Having a problem reaching those reluctant readers? Well I guess we all have at times. So how to solve the problem is the question. Put a fiendishly naughty author and illustrator together and watch them create what can only be described as outrageously subversive…

  • Be a Friend – Salina Yoon

    Bloomsbury August 2016 ISBN 9781408809093 RRP $14.99   There are plenty of children who are different in some way or another and often they are subject to being ‘left out’. Dennis is quite an ordinary boy but he communicates in somewhat an extraordinary way. When his classmates do ‘show and tell’ Dennis mimes his news.…

  • Marge in Charge Isla Fisher, illustrated by Eglantine Ceulemans

      Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN 9781848125339 Publisher:Bonnier Imprint:Piccadilly Books Pub Date:August 2016 RRP $14.99 Comedian, actress, mother and now author, Isla Fisher takes domestic anarchy to a new level with these stories about a baby sitter who is definitely not average. Jemima and Jake do not want a new babysitter. They especially don’t want…

  • You Choose… – George Ivanoff

    RRP $14.99 Oh George, why do you do this to me? I continually bomb out – repeatedly. I must be the most hopeless ‘choose-your-own-adventurer’ ever! But they are great fun – and the kids are eating them up. I have a bunch of girls who just love the interactivity of this series – and I…

  • (Axel Scheffler’s) Flip Flap Pets – Axel Scheffler

    July 2016 Allen & Unwin Imprint: Nosy Crow ISBN 9780857636805 RRP $ 15.99 Flip flap books have always been popular with kids as they make all kinds of crazy combinations. I knew this one was going to be a sure fire winner at our house for sure because we are the household with the menagerie.…

  • My Feelings – Sarah Jennings

    Bloomsbury August 2016 ISBN: 9781408869048 Imprint: Bloomsbury Activity Books RRP $12.99 As Small continues with her counsellor and actively begins to articulate her feelings, increasing her emotional awareness (which is very much helping her work through many issues including grief and anxiety), this little book is a very timely review. Designed for younger children, it…

  • Six – M. M. Vaughan

    Simon & Schuster Margaret K. McElderry Books ISBN 9781481420709 | May 2016 This is speculative fiction for your young readers at its best. If you have kids who are into the whole premise of technology and scientific discoveries at their best – or worst – they will gobble this up. Parker Banks hates that he…

  • The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee – Deborah Abela

    Random House Australia ISBN: 9781925324822 Published: 01/08/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s   RRP $14.99 In small country towns there is often a vigorous community spirit, especially for the ‘battlers’ and this story exemplifies that. India Wimple lives with her family – Dad, Mum, little brother Boo and Nanna Flo – in Yungabilla. Nanna came to live with…