Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 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…

  • Just Like You/Bitjan Nhankuna Nhe – Natashia Curtin

    Walker Books Australia August 2024 ISBN13:9781760658069 Australia RRP:$25.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 I absolutely love this 💚 and, though it’s not due for release for another couple of weeks, it is perfect to share during this week of NAIDOC specials. Natashia Curtin grew up in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, in a Yolngu community called Ramingining. As…

  • NAIDOC Week titles from Penguin

    Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud NAIDOC Week is a time for all Australians to celebrate the history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The theme of NAIDOC Week 2024 is ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud’, which ‘celebrates the unyielding spirit of our communities and invites all…

  • Circles of Life – Gregg Dreise

    Penguin Australia March 2024 Alphabet Song / Rap – Aboriginal Style by Gregg Dreise – YouTube Together Forever By Gregg Dreise (featuring Ed Owen-Jones) Stop Motion Lollies & Pens Animation. – YouTube My Culture and Me by Gregg Dreise – YouTube Kookoo Kookaburra Song Gregg Dreise – YouTube I Open the Door Promo ILF –…

  • Three Dresses – Wanda Gibson

    UQP April 2024 ISBN: 9780702266355 RRP: $26.99 As soon as I saw this book, I wanted to review it as I knew it would be both beautiful and poignant. I’ve not been to Hopevale or Woorabinda, only as far as Cairns, but I know people who have both been and worked there. I have though,…

  • Yer’ung – Spirit Tree

    Darren Charlwood, a Wiradjuri artist, unveiled his breath-taking sculpture at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney to kick-start #NAIDOCWeek. The artwork was welcomed by a First Nations Elder and traditional smoking ceremony. It tells the story of Sydney and embodies a Welcome to Country on Gadigal land. The sculpture is titled Yer’ung – Spirit Tree and…

  • Doubles Disaster: Ash Barty Tennis Camp Diaries #1 – Ash Barty, Jasmin McGaughey. Illustrated by Jade Goodwin.

    Harper Collins Australia July 2024 Your junior readers who have been gobbling up the Little Ash series are going to go nuts when they see this and realise that a whole new series, another step up the reading ladder, is happening! Ash is very excited that she’s been chosen to go to her first tennis…

  • Walking Together – Coral Vass/Dub Leffler

    Scholastic Australia July 2024 ISBN: 9781761126260 ISBN-10: 1761126261 RRP: $26.99 There would be few of us who don’t know the power of the collaboration between Coral Vass and Dub Leffler – who hasn’t used Sorry Day in their cultural awareness units? And here we are, with our Reconciliation Week theme of Now More Than Ever, and our…

  • Yirrkala Bark Petitions

    The Yirrkala Bark Petitions are a series of petitions from the Yolngu people to the Commonwealth government. They are seen as the first documents that joined Indigenous Lore with Commonwealth Law as the petitions are the first traditional documents to have been recognised by the Commonwealth Parliament. The Yolngu people are the people of Yirrkala…

  • Finding Our Heart: a story about the Uluru Statement for Young People – Thomas Mayo[r]. Illustrated by Blak Douglas.

    Hardie Grant Australia June 2020 ISBN: 9781741177176 Imprint: Hardie Grant Explore RRP: $26.99 Four years after its release, and as I’ve just created a presentation for YABBA’s virtual author’s program on Thomas Mayo, it seems like a great time to include this one in this year’s NAIDOC collation. Thomas wrote his first book, Finding the…