Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Doom of the Darkwing: How to Train Your Dragon School #1- Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia May, 2025 | 9781444981926 | RRP $16.99 Imprint: Hodder Children’s Books If you read my review of the 20th anniversary edition of How to Train Your Dragon you will know how this series holds a special place in my heart, and will forever. So it’s super exciting that we get to enjoy a new series featuring our…

  • Down the Plot Hole – Annaleise Byrd

    Walker Books April 2025 ISBN13:9781760659059 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Annaleise Byrd’s second fractured fairytale is as highly amusing as the first. Basil and Terry resume their reading schedule, continuing on with Grimms’ Fairytales, though Basil is very uncertain about the whole idea of going back into fairytale with all its uncertainties – and dangers!…

  • The Marvellous Submarine -Zane Clayton Comber (The Marvellous Submarine, #1) Clayton Zane Comber. Connor McCammon

    Harper Collins Australia April 2025 This hails the start of a new series, co-written and illustrated by this pair from Kiama [one of my favourite places in the country] which will completely hook your young readers, particularly those who have been languishing for more Treehouse-like books. It is completely absurd and crazy and all the…

  • Escape from Marigold Manor – Rachel Jackson

    For someone with a mild [understatement] addiction to cozy murder mysteries, this new Rachel Jackson Solve it Your Way was right up my alley. Not that I didn’t also enjoy the first in the series Escape from Cuttlefish Cove, but this one had the perfect setting and characters for my taste. In this new one,…

  • The Night Librarian – Christopher Lincoln

    Scholastic Australia Scholastic Australia January 2025 ISBN: 9781761643507 RRPP: $19.99 There was a lot to like about this one but as usual the graphic format, didn’t quite do it for me, which I freely admit is just a personal thing. There were definitely moments when I felt confused about sequences or even conversations but I…

  • Sink or Swim: Frog Squad #3 – Kate and Jol Temple. Shiloh Gordon.

    Harper Collins April 2025 Everybody’s favourite famous frogs are back – leaping into action with all the finesse of the fit and feisty ‘phibians that they are. This small, but dedicated, army of frogs – drawn from all over the world [and by Shiloh Gordon] are hopping with excitement to not only meet the famous…

  • Harry and Gran Bake a Cake – Fiona McIntosh. Sara Acton.

    Penguin Australia March 2025 I have my own happy memories of cooking with not just my Mummy but also my Fairy Godmother, Aunty Shirl, and my own Gran. Then when my grandies came along, it was my turn to cook with them. My eldest grandson was mad keen on Gabriel Gate’s cooking show and one…

  • My Mum is the Best – Nic McPickle. Tommy Doyle

    Allen & Unwin Imprint: Albert St Books March 2025 ISBN:9781761181160 RRP: $19.99 This one is a truckload of fun for a Mother’s Day read (or gift!) with a lively text full of rhymes and humour. My mum is a Super Mum, the best I’ve ever known.She loves her trackies and her uggs, her coffee and…

  • The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest – Aubrey Hartman

    Walker Books Australia May 2025 ISBN:9781761601453 RRP: $17.99/New Zealand RRP:$19.99 Now, how to describe this delightfully quirky and sometimes dark quasi-horror with heart? It’s a little bit My Dead Rabbit, maybe a little bit Coraline, and a little bit The Graveyard Book. And then there’s A Girl Called Corpse – and soon you will get…

  • Parrot Palace – Susanne Gervay with Pooja Mathur. Illustrated by Sarah Tabassum.

    Big Sky Publishing Imprint: Little Big Sky March 2025 ISBN: 9781923300088 RRP: $12.99 When I had an email from the wonderful Susanne Gervay last year, asking if I would write teaching notes for a new book, quite naturally I was delighted. And when I first read Parrot Palace, I was even more delighted. This is…