Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Desert Tracks -Marly Wells & Linda Wells

    Magabala Books May 2025 978-1-922777-66-9 RRP. $22.99 What an absolutely sensational book this is! Easy to see why it won the Daisy Utemorrah Award! And I’m going to say right now, this is one you not only need for your collection, but need to actively promote to your staff, especially those of you looking to…

  • Resist: a story of D-Day – Alaz Gratz

    Scholastic Australia April 2025 Imprint: Scholastic Inc ISBN: 9781761649172 RRP: $12.99 If anyone is confused and feels like they have seen this, or heard of it, some years ago, here’s what author Alan Gratz explains: The physical paperback version of Resist was something I wrote as an exclusive giveaway for Scholastic’s Book Clubs in 2019. Scholastic gave…

  • Hey, Zazou! – Tony Thompson

    Ford St Publishing April 2025 ISBN: 9781922696410 RRP: $19.95 Here’s another fabulous historical fiction that I not only really enjoyed reading, but loved writing notes for as I discovered a whole other side to the Paris Occupation in World War II of which I was completely unaware. I knew about the Swing Kids in Germany…

  • The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Die – Peter Lantos

    Scholastic Australia Imprint: SCHOLASTIC LTD UK Author:Lantos, Peter ISBN: 9781761299643 RRP: $23.95 One doesn’t often read a graphic novel that is autobiographical. I think Raymond Briggs’ is the only one I can recall off the top of my head, but this one by Holocaust survivor and British scientist Peter Lantos BEM FMedSci is an example…

  • Ming and Maria Explore the Universe: The Girls Who Changed the World #5 – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia Once again, I was delighted to be asked to write the notes for this last title in what has been an inspiring series for our young people. It was particularly special as Jackie and I had had some conversations about this particular ‘mighty girl’ of history, and how much Maria Mitchell contributed…

  • On Gallant Wings – Helen Edwards

    Riveted Press April 2025 Distributed by Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9781763526051 LIST PRICE: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 I can completely relate to author Helen Edward’s comment in her notes that she knew little about the Japanese attack on Darwin. I was certainly the same. Growing up in the late 50s/60s, I knew more about…

  • Blak ANZAC Day

    You are correct. I did say the blog was having a break until after ANZAC Day but when Big Sky Publishing sent me these which arrived today (16th) how could I not read and review them to mark ANZAC 2025. You might already have them or not but be well advised to do so, if…

  • Young Dark Emu: a Truer History – Bruce Pascoe

    Imprint: Magabala Books Hachette Books February 2025 ISBN: 9781922777508 RRP: $29.99 Eleven years ago this month, I had the great pleasure of reading and reviewing Dark Emu – Blackseeds: Accident or Agriculture? for Magabala and in that review, I commented on how much new information I gleaned from this detailed and knowledge-based account from a…

  • Bold Ben Hall – Sophie Masson

    Walker Books March 2025 ISBN13:9781760658403 Australia RRP:$17.99 New Zealand RRP:$19.99 From the time I was a kid, I was fascinated with many of the stories of our bushrangers – lots of them recounted to me by my Father Bear. I think from memory it was in my tweens or maybe very early teens, when he…

  • Moonboy – Anna Ciddor

    Allen & Unwin March 2025 ISBN:9781761180743 Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $17.99 I love Anna Ciddor‘s historical time-slip adventures, and this newest one speaks to me even more because of personal connections. I was instantly transported back to First Form at St George Girls High School, and sitting with the rest of my cohort, squashed…