Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Romeo V Juliet – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia February 2026 Imprint: Penguin ISBN: 9781761349744 RRP: $16.99 If Hamlet is Not OK made you laugh a lot and cast Shakespeare into a different light altogether, verily forsooth! just wait till you get thy hands on this tome. I truly wish this had been around the last time I taught R&J [though I say…

  • The Tinysaurs – Sally Odgers. Adele K. Thomas

    Scholastic Australia February 2026 9781761528576 RRP: $16.99 Cute poster for your library or just for fun All your Smalls who have adored Pearl and friends, are going to lap this up like a cat with a saucer of cream. It’s cute and it’s colourful and it’s really cleverly engaging with a twist on many ideas.…

  • Which Way to the Future – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia Oct 2025 | 9781444982398 | RRP $22.99 Preorder the P/B: Apr 7, 2026 | 9781444979435 | RRP $17.99 SO much fun to be back with the most famous starwalker, bounty hunter and Story Maker, Horizabel the Grimm, along with O’Hero-Smith children for another intergalactic, totally bonkers adventure. Cressida Cowell’s Which Way series is every bit as exciting, dramatic, crazy and fun…

  • The Flight of the Drakkonbarq- Sarah Giddy

    Riveted Press October 2025 Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9781764007146 LIST PRICE: AU$ 18.99 / NZ$ 19.99 Here’s another gift suggestion for an astute reader from about 10 years upwards. You could get a small sense of this book from the blurb, which has probably been rehashed by at least one reviewer, but it truly needs…

  • The Rose Field: The Book of Dust #3 – Philip Pullman

    Penguin Australia October 2025 It was a very long wait indeed and so many of us were very impatient indeed [no, it wasn’t just me!] – 2017 from the first to 2025 for the last. Not only did I revisit my reviews of #1 and #2 but I listened to both on audio – finishing…

  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J. K. Rowling. Illustrated by Karl James Mountford

    A sumptuously illustrated gift book with magical interactive surprises Bloomsbury Australia October 2025 ISBN: 9781526691262 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing RRP: $69.99 Is it a Christmas book you might ask? NO, not exactly but remember the Yule Ball !! but of course it would make an insanely exciting Xmas gift for any Potterhead of your acquaintance.…

  • Koala Fairies – Anna Pignataro

    Scholastic Australia September 2025 ISBN:9781761123849 RRP: $19.99 It really could be set right here at the end of our street – where bush meets the sea and there are native animals sheltering in quiet spots. Cute little friends, Cookie and Clover, are a pair of helpful koalas who do their best to care for their…

  • The Ickabog: The bestselling fairytale, now illustrated by Ben Mantle – J. K. Rowling

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Sep 2025 | 9781510202795 | RRP $22.99 Remember when The Ickabog first came out during the gloom of covid days and all of us HP fans were SO excited! My kiddos were so hyper that I never got my hands on it to read it – though I did admire…

  • Halloween Bonus! Q&A with Jack Mackay

    Recently I reviewed the amazingly great Gloam, debut novel of Jack Mackay [honestly, READ it! – it is SO good!] and am thrilled, as well as grateful, for this generous response to my Q&A. Perfect Halloween timing!!! Jack, welcome to Just So Stories! I am so grateful to you for sharing some time with my…

  • The Cave Downwind of the Café – Mikey Please

    Harper Collins Australia October 2025 I didn’t see the previous book, The Café at the Edge of the Woods, but as it won Waterstones’ Picture Book of the Year it would be obvious that it was a great success. Certainly, this quirky sequel confirms that. Actually, this is a prequel to that one as it…