Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Diamond Horse – Stacey Gregg

    Harper Collins           ISBN: 9780008124403          ISBN 10: 000812440X          Imprint: HarperCollins – GB 01/05/2017          List Price: 14.99 AUD I’ve bought two of the previous books in this series for my library but not had the chance to read either so I was very glad to receive this one for review. Of course the horsey girls will love…

  • Goodbye Mr Hitler – Jackie French

    Harper Collins – AU May 2017       ISBN: 9781460751299 RRP: 16.99 AUD In a modern world that often seems to be filled with hate and prejudices and refusal to acknowledge basic human rights, we could easily fall into a despondency that could be soul-destroying. Many of us in daily contact with children will have observed that they…

  • Yong : the journey of an unworthy son – Janeen Brian

    ISBN: 9781925126297 Imprint: WALKER BOOKS AUST Distributor: Harper Collins Distribution Services for Australia and New Zealand August 1, 2016 RRP $16.99 There have been many accounts of the Chinese coming to Australia in the gold rush era both for adults and children but this is the first I have read which explores the history of some of these…

  • The Lost Sapphire – Belinda Murrell

    ISBN: 9781925324112 Published: 16/05/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP $17.99 Once again Belinda Murrell has set her readers’ feet upon a path to the past with an ease that is breathtaking. When Marli’s mother has to go overseas for work for several months, the teenager is sent to stay with her estranged father in Melbourne, doing so…

  • The Family with Two Front Doors – Anna Ciddor

    ISBN:9781925266641 Publisher:Allen & Unwin Imprint:A & U Children Pub Date:March 2016 RRP $14.99   To take one’s own family history and turn it into a delightful, amusing and engaging story takes a real talent. Anna Ciddor has done so with this wonderful tale of family warmth, traditions and insight. Inspired by her grandmother’s stories Anna…

  • A Lottie Lipton Adventure: The Scroll of Alexandria – Dan Metcalf

    Allen & Unwin Australia Bloomsbury Publishing February 2016-04-02 ISBN 9781472911872 RRP $12.99 If you are looking for a new series to engage newly independent readers, you need look no further! Imagine living in a museum full of rare and wonderful objects. Lottie Lipton, nine years old, lives in the British Museum with her Great Uncle…

  • Elephant Man Mariangela Di Fiore, illustrated by Hilde Hodnefjeld, translated by Rosie Hedger

      ISBN:9781760292201 Publisher:Allen & Unwin Imprint:A & U Children Pub Date:February 2016 RRP $29.99 To be honest, when I received this in my review package a few weeks ago I was somewhat taken aback. I wondered how the sad story of Joseph Merrick could possibly be the subject for a picture book and I put it…

  • The Taming of the Queen – Philippa Gregory

    Simon & Schuster UK | 448 pages | ISBN 9781471132971 | August 2015 List Price AU$ 45.00 NZ$ 49.99 Why would a woman marry a serial killer? Because she cannot refuse… Every now and again I lash out and actually read a ‘grown up’ book and being a very genuine admirer of Philippa Gregory’s historical…