Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Yarn Quest series – Brooke Scobie. Illustrated by Jade Goodwin

    Penguin July 2024 RRP: $12.99 Yarn Quest 1: The Search for the Story Realm ISBN: 9781761345227 So This is an exciting new series that has evolved from a highly-successful First Nations led children’s podcast, incorporating stories written by the Awesome Black team. Author Brooke Scobie is, herself, a queer, auDHD, First Nations author, and this has…

  • Big, Big Love – Lisa Fuller & Samantha Campbell

    Magabala Books April 2024 ISBN978-1-921248-96-2 RRP: $27.99 What a darling book this is and how pleased I am that it has come my way. It is essentially very simple,but it is also so profoundly special as it expresses a mother’s heart and overwhelming love for her child. I loved you before you were born and…

  • Days of Warmth – Gregg Dreise

    Penguin Australia August 2024 Anything from Gregg is always a guaranteed delight and this new board book is just the sweetest thing, full of warmth and comfort. It is both a tender story of family love and security, and an introduction to learning the days of the week, names for family members and various emotions.…

  • Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu When I was a little girl – Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr

    Magabala Books July 2024 ISBN: 9781922142306 RRP: $27.99 As you can imagine, I think the bond between grandmother and granddaughter is particularly special. It certainly is for me and The Kid, as it’s now been over nine years that I have been her ‘parental’ person. But I think it is the same the world over,…

  • Our Flag, Our Story: The Torres Strait Island Flag – Bernard Namok Jnr/Thomas Mayo. Illustrated by Tori-Jay Mordey.

    Magabala Books May 2024 ISBN: 9781922613509 RRP: AUD$27.99, NZD$32.99 A few of my mob had commented earlier this year that we needed more First Nations titles about the Torres Strait Islands, and the Ancestors must have heard us because it was shortly afterward that this new title was announced. I was fortunate to create the…

  • Helping Little Star – Sally Morgan and Blaze Kwaymullina. Illustrations by Sally Morgan.

    Walker Books Australia July 2024 ISBN13:9781760658700 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 August 4 is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day so what a better to mark that than with some reviews of some wonderful new titles. What an absolutely charming story this is for Smalls! It is essentially quite simple but could easily develop into…

  • From Thoughts Become Words – Gretchen Bernet- Ward reblog

  • Keep the Fire Burning – all year

    Thanks for coming along to NAIDOC 2024 here at Just So Stories. I truly hope you have found something to share or learned something from this year’s posts. I can see by the stats that there have been many visitors and many downloads so I’m guessing some people have found it useful. KEEP THE FIRE…

  • A Very Secret Trade

    Allen & Unwin April 2024 ISBN:9781761066344 Imprint: Allen & Unwin RRP: $34.99 The great Australian silence In 1968, anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner talked in his Boyer lecture After the Dreaming about the “cult of forgetfulness” practiced on a national scale in Australia, which he termed “the Great Australian Silence”– where Australians do not just fail to acknowledge the atrocities of the past,…

  • Aboriginal String Games

    Did you play these as a child? My girls did and back then I had no idea they were an Aboriginal activity as well. I learned that later but have shared both the information and the how-to with kiddos in libraries for years. Learn how to play string games Many Aboriginal groups traditionally made patterns…