Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Short Stories -Silvia Borando

    Scribble April 2025 9781761381560 Author/Illustrator: Silvia BorandoTranslator: Felicita SalaAUD$27.99 | £12.99 | US$18.95 A favourite literacy activity with older kiddos for some years now, has been six-word stories. Know them? If not, do some sleuthing. This book takes that premise and turns it into another fun read, plus a delightful springboard for some quick creative…

  • No More Room in the Bed! – Deborah Abela. Illustrated by Marina Verola.

    Simon & Schuster Publisher: Larrikin House (June 18, 2025) ISBN13: 9781922804808 RRP: AU$ 24.99 / NZ$ 27.99 Here’s a fresh new title to add to your store of those well-loved cumulative narratives that Smalls always enjoy – not to mention, they are SO useful for us when teaching our younger students about expressive language. It…

  • Peculiar Parents- Stephanie Owen Reeder. Illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak.

    National Library of Australia 9781922507822 / 1 July 2025 / AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 One thing is a given. A book from Stephanie Owen Reeder will always be exceptional and I, for one, have been very much looking forward to this one. And just wait till you see it! On a gloomy weekend such as this one (as I write this)…

  • Detective Galileo- Peter Helliar. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner.

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 ISBN: 9781460766217 ISBN 10: 1460766210 Imprint: HarperCollins AU List Price: 15.99 AUD While I’m not a big fan of ‘celebrity’ authored books in general, and always ready to be unimpressed, I have to say that this isn’t dreadful at all. And, in particular, if you have some kiddos who are reluctant or struggling readers…

  • Roobee Roo x Two

    Hachette Australia Imprint; Lothian Children’s Books Roobee Roo: My Big Bedtime Book Jul 1, 2025 | 9780734422354 | RRP $14.99 Roobee Roo: My Magic ABC Pouch Jul 1, 2025 | 9780734422323 | RRP $14.99 It’s two more cuties in this adorable series from Nico and Candy Robertson [aren’t we lucky they decided to come live in the best country in the world?]. With…

  • Guess How I Was Born – Susanne Gervay. Illustrated by Carolyn Daly.

    Larrikin House June 2025 978192334510 I’m far from being the only educator who has worked with children from diverse family circumstances. Going right back to my first year of teaching and to the present day: same sex parents, single parents of either gender, trans parents, trans kids, kiddos raised by grandparents [like The Kid], blended…

  • The Hat of Great Importance: Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody – Patrick Ness. Illustrated by Tim Miller.

    Walker Books Australia June 2025 Imprint: Walker Books ISBN13:9781529517965 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 When your copy of The Hat of Great Importance arrives with its own matched hat, it’s a red-letter day indeed! After the first in the series, I was looking forward to the second and another round of monitor angst, humour, diabolical…

  • The Haunting of Hindmarsh Hall – Kate Gordon

    Riveted Press Simon & Schuster April 2025 ISBN13: 9780645869385 RRP: AU$ 16.99 / NZ$ 18.99 If you have kidlets who are mad for detectives and mystery, and particularly if they’re the ones who love an Enid Blyton ‘find-outer’ adventure, then you are going to need this one. In a small town of indeterminate location, two…

  • Ebb & Flo series – Laura & Philip Bunting

    Hardie Grant Australia Ebb & Flo: Short Cut June 2025 ISBN:9781761214790 Price:AU$11.99, NZ$13.99 These are the first I’ve seen in this series but I’m sure they won’t be the last. And how good is it to see another set of titles for those emergent, newly independent readers that is FUN as well as providing some…

  • At the Movies

    With the holidays coming up there will be plenty planning movie outings, and also, I know I used to post something for my parents on the library webpage as well as in the newsletter. I had a prompt this week to do so again, but I’ll come to that. First up, last week (release day,…