Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Alex Rider: Nightshade Revenge #14 – Anthony Horowitz

    Walker Books September 2023 ISBN13:9781529517422 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 My fondness for Alex’ adventures is pretty well-known, and some people may remember my huge excitement with an exchange I had with the boy spy’s creator, Anthony himself, when I did my promo for Alex’ 20th anniversary. Well I remember our collective sadness when we…

  • Where Will the Sleepy Sheep Sleep? – David Metzenthen. Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley.

    Allen & Unwin August 2023 ISBN:9781761066160 Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $19.99 We know that little kids love wordplay (who doesn’t?), and this will be an ideal book to showcase the fun we can have with language. It will be a riotous read-aloud romp but also a completely comprehensive classroom curriculum companion….*grin*. Take…

  • Nerra Deep Time Traveller: The Broken Rainbow – Tasma Walton & Samantha Campbell

    SCHOLASTIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD October 2023 ISBN: 9781760264567ISBN-10: 1760264563 RRP: $15.99 If you have readers who have been enjoying the Wylah series (and other First Nations contemporary narratives), then this new series is going to be a sure-fire winner. Nerra is a young girl with a strong connection to her culture and Country. She is especially close…

  • Shearer- Neridah McMullin/Michael Tomkins

    Walker Books Australia September 2023 ISBN13:9781760653163 Imprint:Walker Books Australia Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP: $28.99 Again, Neridah McMullin has delighted me by bringing another significant Australian of the past to a new generation. When I was growing up in the Boomer years, we still referred to ‘Jackie Howes’ (singlets) and I definitely knew why they…

  • The Stars Did Wander Darkling – Colin Meloy

    Walker Books Australia January 2023 ISBN: 9781760657192 RRP: $17.99 Think The Goonies. Think The Lost Boys. Think Stranger Things. In fact, think 80s vibe horror for middle grade, and you will begin to get some idea about this fabulous latest from Meloy. Yes, it has been loitering in my brain since I read it early…

  • Alice-Miranda and the Christmas Mystery – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Random House October 2023 It has been a while since we’ve had the pleasure of a new Alice-Miranda story, understandably as Jacqueline has been busy with other projects (successfully so I might add!!), and we all know that the A-M fans, young and old (yes, Tiarna G, I am looking at you!) are going…

  • The Magician’s Nephew – C. S. Lewis

    Harper Collins Australia September 2023 ISBN: 9780007323135 RRP: $17.99 I was 11 years old when I read my first Narnia book, and it was this one, which had been a Sunday School prize (still have it!). Needless to say, I was, like so many other children over the past 70 years, absolutely entranced by the…

  • Impossible Creatures – Katherine Rundell

    Bloomsbury Australia September 2023 ISBN 9781408897409 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $18.99 After waiting for months to have this in my hands, there was never any doubt in my mind that it would be worth that wait. From the first page, it was as if the glimourie was flowing straight off the text and into…

  • First Game Back: Girls Change the Game #2 – Gabrielle Gloury and Michael Hyde

    Ford St Publishing July 2023 ISBN: 9781922696304 RRP: $14.99 Fact: Kids love ‘choose your own adventure’ books – the decades roll on and this genre is as popular as ever Fact: More and more girls are playing football – of all codes. And more and more spectators are watching these games. Fact: Your kiddos who…

  • Q&A with Lian Tanner…let’s visit beautiful Tassie a while

    Lian, I am so very happy to be able to welcome you to Just So Stories! I know you must be always so busy, so I really appreciate you taking time out for my readers. I want to start with your new series, The Dragons of Hallow and Spellhound, which I just absolutely loved. Can…