Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Picture Book Month Bonus: Rory Sparkes and the Elephant in the Room – Hugh Bonneville

    Bloomsbury Australia October 2025 ISBN 9781526685957 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $17.99 Most people would know that I’m very wary of books by ‘celebrity’ authors but I am always willing to take a punt when a) I know that it is the person themselves that has written it (or that their collaborator/ghost writer is clearly…

  • No One is Home – Mikolaj Pa. Illustrated by Gosia Herbs.

    translated by Scotia Gilroy New South Books Publisher: Greystone Kids September 2025 9781778402180 AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 Last year I reviewed No 5. Bubblegum St from this same pair of creators in a week of ‘happy-ness’ reviews. This one seemed a perfect fit for today’s slightly bonkers books, and I love it just as much as I…

  • Oh Dear, Look What I Got! – Michael Rosen. Helen Oxenbury.

    Walker Books Australia September 2025 ISBN13:9781529510898 Australia RRP:$24.99 New Zealand RRP:$27.99 When you open a parcel and find another parcel that is even more exciting because, just look at those names on the wrapping, you know you’re in for a treat! And so it is. This new instant classic [yep, I’m calling it already] will…

  • Bluey: The Sign

    Penguin Australia Close enough to include it in my picture books, this is the stand-out episode that many kids will have seen, and now they can read it as well. In the cutest graphic novel format, find out what happens when the For Sale goes up in the front yard of the Heelers’ place. Bluey,…

  • Mooshy Crackerjack’s Big Day – Suzanne Patterson. Maia Batumashvill

    New South Books Publisher: Starfish Bay Children’s Books September 2025 9781760362690 AUD$26.99 This is a load of fun that kids will thoroughly enjoy and cackle over, as they recognise what it’s like to be super-excited about their birthday but not quite sure everyone else is! Mooshy bounces up on the morning of his birthday just…

  • Miss Understood- Kathryn Apel & Beau Wylie

    Scholastic Australia May 2025 Yes, it has taken far too long to get to this one but it’s worth it – and if you haven’t grabbed it, you should! It’s been way too long since I had a fractured fairytale to share and it’s also been way too long between really excellent, perfectly on point…

  • O.M.G. Oh My G.O.A.T! (G.O.A.T. #3) Kate & Jol Temple

    Scholastic Australia November 2025 ISBN: 9781761642357 ISBN-10: 1761642359 RRP: $19.99 The G.O.A.T. series has had me cackling since the first because a) it really is absurdly funny and b) Mr Surfer is known colloquially as the G.O.A.T. surf coach – I could add, that’s in his own lunchbox, but no, it’s true as far as I can…

  • A Box Full of Murders – Janice Hallett

    Penguin Australia June 2025 ISBN: 9780241636183 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 It was actually quite serendipitous that as friend, Zanni Louise, mentioned she was enjoying a Janice Hallett murder-mystery – an author whose work I didn’t know – I replied by saying, I had just got a review copy of her first kids’ book, also a murder mystery. And…

  • The Cave Downwind of the Café – Mikey Please

    Harper Collins Australia October 2025 I didn’t see the previous book, The Café at the Edge of the Woods, but as it won Waterstones’ Picture Book of the Year it would be obvious that it was a great success. Certainly, this quirky sequel confirms that. Actually, this is a prequel to that one as it…

  • Wednesday: A Novelisation of Season One

    Penguin Australia If you happen to be one of the handful of people in the civilized world who hasn’t watched Wednesday (1 & 2), you will definitely want to read this ahead of your kids. That way, at least you’ll be up to speed and be able to converse intelligently and compare notes. And for…