Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • My Dream Time – Ash Barty

    Harper Collins Australia November 2022 Like many others, I am a huge admirer of Ash -though I am no fan of tennis per se. This vibrant young woman has completely captivated the nation with her unfailing professionalism, humility, grace and low-key humour. She has become a stand-out role model for our young people, not only…

  • Signs of Survival: a memoir of the Holocaust – Renee Hartman with Joshua M. Greene

    Scholastic November 2021 RRP: $28.25 I found out about this book via Mighty Girl about a week ago and was so pleased that not only had my local library acquired it very recently but that it was available. I read it last night in one sitting (just over 100 pages is all) and, trust me,…

  • Time of My Life – Myf Warhurst

    Hachette September 2022 ISBN: 9780733649189 RRP $34.99 I have no doubt that anyone in my personal orbit will confirm that I am a dyed-in-the-wool, fully card-carrying aficionado – nay, devotee! – of Spicks and Specks. Not only would I not miss an episode when is was screening but I regularly watch repeats, specials, have the…

  • Beijing Tai Tai – Tania McCartney

    Exisle Publishing 2012 ISBN: 9781921966156 RRP: $14.99 I first met Tania when she came to my Canberra school as our author guest around ten years ago, and she and I just clicked from the first moment we spoke to each other. Since then it has been my honour and pleasure to be her friend. I…

  • Sticky McStickStick: the Friend who Helped me Walk Again – Michael Rosen

    Walker Books February 2022 ISBN: 9781529502404Imprint: Walker Australian RRP: $27.99New Zealand RRP: $29.99 When I first read about Michael Rosen’s near-death Covid episode, I found it incredibly moving as this man is one of my most admired creators of children’s literature. Then I read, and shared, his article thanking Sticky McStickStick, and knew for certain that this was a…

  • This Much is True – Miriam Margoyles

    Hachette September 2021 ISBN: 9781529379884 RRP: $49.99 Well, what a rambunctious and joyous ride this memoir has been for my holiday read of the past few days! Miriam did not really cross my radar until I saw her as the Spanish Infanta in Blackadder but that’s really as much as I for one needed –…

  • How Stella Learned to Talk – Christina Hunger

    Allen & Unwin May 2021 ISBN: 9781760878764 RRP: $32.99 Of course, we have known for years that animals can understand us and some have even been able to communicate with us in simple ways – think Koko and signing. It would be truly presumptuous for humans to imagine that we are the only species capable…

  • Tell Me Why for Young Adults – Archie Roach

    Simon & Schuster Australia (March 3, 2021) ISBN13: 9781760858865 I can say unreservedly that this is one of the most powerful memoirs I have read in recent years and for young adults this is a book worth promoting heavily. Archie’s life story is at times harrowing and confronting but also uplifting and inspirational. Taken away…

  • I am Sasha – Anita Selzer

    Penguin Random House April 2018 9790143785743 RRP $17.99 Some triumphant recounts of survival against all odds have come out of the horror of the Holocaust. I am always humbled in admiration for those who endured such deprivation, suffering, cruelty and pain with courage and dignity and who rose from the basest of treatment to resume…

  • The Boy with Two Lives – Abbas Kazerooni

    ISBN:9781743314838 Publisher:Allen & Unwin Imprint:A & U Children Pub Date:September 2015 RRP: $15.99   Many of you will resource units of work/inquiry examining the lives of inspirational people through biographies and memoirs. This book and the previous memoir are perfect, timely and contemporary for readers from Middle Primary upwards. This second instalment in Kazerooni’s powerful…