Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Yoko’s Diary – by Paul Ham. Translated by Debbie Edwards.

    Harper Collins Australia July 2025 ISBN: 9780733344091 ISBN 10: 0733344097 Imprint: ABC Books AU List Price: 22.99 AUD SHORTLISTED in the 2014 CBCA Awards SHORTLISTED in the 2014 NSW Premier’s History Awards I’m embarrassed to say that though I’ve had this book in every single one of my primary libraries, as far as I can recall, I had never…

  • Anna’s War – DJ Taylor

    Riveted Press Simon & Schuster July 2025 ISBN13: 9781763526075 RRP: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 Aside from, of course, Anne Frank’s diary I knew very little about life for the Dutch during the war. I did glean some from Tulips for Breakfast when I read and reviewed it. But this astonishing debut novel from DJ…

  • The Year We Escaped – Suzanne Leal

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 ISBN: 9781460765906 ISBN 10: 1460765907 Imprint: HarperCollins AU List Price: 17.99 AUD Suzanne Leal’s Running with Ivan was a book that took me to a very different part of the Second World War, and it was a privilege to write the teaching notes for it. I was lucky enough to be asked to write…

  • Back to Business!! – 2025: 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II

    Thanks for your hanging in there while I took a little break. I got four readers drafted for the American publisher – let’s see how much editing will ensue! And I’ve picked up three new commissions for teaching notes in the space of two days (!!): one direct from one of our leading authors, and…

  • The Whisperer’s War – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN: 9781038903891 ISBN 10: 1038903890 Imprint: HQ Fiction AU RRP: $34.99 As always, Jackie’s historical fiction is perfection. I was aware of this one in progress and, in fact, had had some (email) conversation with the author about this period, and in particular Edward known as David, the Duke of Windsor. My anecdote was that…

  • Inconvenient Women: Australian radical writers 1900–1970 – Jacqueline Kent

    UNSW Press 9781742237503 / May 2025 / RRP $34.99 You might guess that long extended adult reads do not happen all that often for me. I’m generally so snowed under reading kids lit that squeezing in the adult books is a mission – and usually reserved for the days at the beach while The Kid surfs or my occasional…

  • 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…