Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Nanny Tobbins and the Midnight Plan – Lucie Stevens

    Harper Collins Australia May 2026 ISBN: 9781460766538 RRP; $18.99 Nanny Tobbins #1 was great fun and liberally laced with solid historical references. Now #2 continues the fantasy six months on with Bertie once again finding herself in the midst of misadventure. The Great Exhibition is over and as the remaining displays and exhibits are packed…

  • Freedom Braids – Monique Duncan. Oboh Moses.

    Lantana Distributed by Simon & Schuster May 2026 LIST PRICE: AU$ 24.99 / NZ$ 28.99 While I make a point of sharing own our Blak kids lit books and creators, it is always important to remember the struggles of PoC from other settings and cultures. This is a particularly beautiful picture book which relates an…

  • The Drover’s Son – Leah Purcell. Dub Leffler.

    Penguin Australia March 2026 This one may have waited a while but it is all the more timely for having done so as I can share it to mark 2026 NAIDOC Week on this 50th anniversary of the event. This is particularly so because of this being a collaboration between two such incredibly talented First…

  • Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World, #1) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins AustraliaMay 2026 ISBN: 9781460766545 RRP: $16.99 A new book from Jackie French is always exciting. When it heralds a new series even more so. And to top it off, I was able to read it and write notes for it, which was so cool especially as, some months ago, Jackie and I had some…

  • Shakespeare in the Orchard – Danielle Binks

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books Jul 7, 2026 | 9780734421920 | RRP $17.99 It took me a while to get into this one as the first chapters seemed to move slowly but once it got going, I was thoroughly engaged with this fictionalised slice of history, hitherto unknown to me. That is to say, naturally I knew about…

  • The Dust Bowl, 1935: I Survived – Lauren Tarshis

    Scholastic Australia March 2026 ISBN: 9781761728662 RRP: $15.99 My introduction to the work of John Steinbeck was watching the movie adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath aged around 11/12 and thereafter, reading my father’s copy of the book plus all his other Steinbecks, including my all-time favourite book Of Mice and Men, also set in…

  • Don’t Let Them Leave – Mike Lucas

    Penguin Australia May 2026 Eeek! I read this halfway through on a sunny Sunday afternoon – thank goodness, because this is absolute superb, spooky, supernatural Gothic horror at its best. Drawing on Cornish folktales and superstitions and set around the 1930s, readers who love a truly suspenseful, twisty-turning creepy narrative will eat this up with…

  • The Girl and the Ghost #3 Grand Opening – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia May 2026 ISBN: 9781761349430 RRP: $16.99 There will be plenty of delighted fans when this one hits the shelves [my advice is to buy multiple copies] as this fabulous series continues. Josephine, often known as Jet, and her family are gearing up for the grand opening of their restored chateau hotel but there is…

  • The Private Side of Friendship – Alexander McCall-Smith

    New South Books Publisher: Polygon 9781846977299 February 2026 AUD$39.99, NZD$44.99 This a stand-alone novel from A M-S that is utterly typical of his gentle story-telling with expert characterisations and with small details that bring his narratives to life. Travelling in time back to the 80s, 24-year-old Julie recalls the happy times spent in a shared…

  • Rain Stones: 35th Anniversary Edition – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia March 2026 ISBN: 9781460768808 ISBN 10: 1460768809 Imprint: HarperCollins AU List Price: 17.99 AUD When I opened this package a couple of days ago, there was a sharp intake of breath and a gasp of ’35 years! that can’t be right surely!’ but, of course it’s right. And over the course of 25ish years in school…