Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Year We Escaped – Suzanne Leal

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 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 them for this new book as well. And…

  • Beyond the Shore – Kirli Saunders. Illustrated by Mark Chester Harding.

    I had the great pleasure of listening to Kirli Saunders speak about her work, back in May so had special interest in seeing this new title. I was also particularly interested to see the illustrations from debut picture book illustrator, Mark Chester Harding. There is an elegant simplicity about both text and illos that has…

  • Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo – Phillipa Leathley

    Harper Collins Australia January 2025 While it took me a while to get to this on the review shelf, and then it’s taken me a few weeks to get the review written, it only took me two sessions to actually read this completely enthralling and wildly different fantasy. Meticulous – Metty – Jones, like most…

  • The Poisoned King: Impossible Creatures #2 – Katherine Rundell

    Bloomsbury ISBN 9781408897454 (p/b) Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $18.99 (P/b) $29.99 (H/b) $15.19 ebook editions I have raved over Impossible Creatures since I first ate it up greedily and, trust me, I am not the only one. Evidence of that is in the fact that it was the Children’s Book of the Year in…

  • Ava Spark: Hello, I’m here! – Alex Field. Illustrated by Joanna Bartel.

    New Frontier Publishing May 2025 ISBN : 978-1-923145-92-4 PRICE : $16.99 Meeting Ava Spark will be something quite different for most of your readers, I think. While they may already be aware or even familiar with some methods of communication, especially AUSLAN/sign language, which many schools are incorporating into their programs, not so many will be aware…

  • Detective Galileo- Peter Helliar. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner.

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 While I’m not a big fan of ‘celebrity’ authored books in general, and always ready to be unimpressed, I have to say that this isn’t dreadful at all. And, in particular, if you have some kiddos who are reluctant or struggling readers who should be moving upwards in their reading…

  • The Hat of Great Importance: Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody – Patrick Ness. Illustrated by Tim Miller.

    Walker Books Australia June 2025 Imprint: Walker Books ISBN13:9781529517965 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 When your copy of The Hat of Great Importance arrives with its own matched hat, it’s a red-letter day indeed! After the first in the series, I was looking forward to the second and another round of monitor angst, humour, diabolical…

  • The Haunting of Hindmarsh Hall – Kate Gordon

    Riveted Press Simon & Schuster April 2025 RRP: AU$ 16.99 / NZ$ 18.99 If you have kidlets who are mad for detectives and mystery, and particularly if they’re the ones who love an Enid Blyton ‘find-outer’ adventure, then you are going to need this one. In a small town of indeterminate location, two boys are…

  • In Plain Sight: Friday Barnes #13 – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia It was quite synchronistic to get #13 Friday Barnes arriving on Friday 13th, I thought! And, needless to say, I promptly gobbled it up over two nights with much snickering and snort laughing [No R. A. Spratt is ever read without the snaughling!]. The Friday romp continues with our intrepid but ‘special’ detective,…

  • 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…