Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Legend of Jessie Hickman – Mark Greenwood/Frané Lessac

    NLA 9781922507853/1 October 2025/AUD$24.99, NZD$29.99 If you believe in legends … I would venture to say that not many people know about Jessie Hickman. In fact, despite my long interest in Australian bushrangers, I probably wouldn’t either except for the fact of having spent a reasonable amount of time in the proximity of Jessie’s one-time…

  • Heads up on these two

    To conclude this week of NAIDOC posts, I want to bring your attention to these two titles for adults. Contrary to my usual practice of only reviewing what I’ve read, I’ve just not had time to get to these [though I certainly intend to!]. But for your benefit, I’m giving them a plug now. Deep…

  • The Girl in the Painting – Dee White. Illustrated by Sarah Anthony.

    Walker Books Australia June 2025 ISBN13:9781760657444 Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP:$28.99 Dee White is one of the most skilled creators I know – and, happily, I can call her my friend as well. Her talent, which ranges across dramatic middle grade novels to humorous narrative non-fiction, instructional primers for teachers and parents, magazine articles and…

  • 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…

  • Tubowgule – a Sydney Opera House History – Melissa-Jane Fogarty. Illustrated by Dylan Finney.

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Books March 2025 9780734423351 | RRP $24.99 I’m old enough to have walked on Bennelong Point before the Opera House was built, and then walk around the construction site as the sails rose ever higher [not much WHS in those days, no fencing around the site!] picking up bits of broken white tile.…

  • A Good Kind of Trouble – Brooke Blurton and Melanie Saward

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 This is another great novel coming from WA with fresh new voices and perspectives, and one of my most enjoyable reads of last year [I was reading the proof to write the teaching notes]. Jamie is a lively and intelligent girl who is very at ease with both her Aboriginality…

  • Courage be my Friend: the Vivian Bullwinkel Story – Jenny Davis

    Fremantle Press April 2024 ISBN: 9781760993726 RRP: $17.99 It would be completely unAustralian to not know the name of Vivian Bullwinkel and to know of her significant role in our history. But I’ll be honest in saying that I didn’t know very much beyond the general details. This is a fictionalised account of Vivian’s extraordinary courage…

  • The Opal Dinosaur – Yvonne Mes. Illustrated by Sylvia Morris.

    CSIRO Publishing  August 2024 | $ 24.99ISBN: 9781486316793  Local Brisbane author Yvonne Mes has created a fascinating narrative non-fiction which kiddos will love, particularly that ever-present cohort of dino-philes. Turning the extraordinary discovery of opalised fossils in Lightning Ridge, by miner, Bob Foster, in 2019 into a drama-filled tale that outlines the fate of one…

  • Tearaway Coach – Neridah McMullin/Andrew McLean

    Walker Books Australia April 2024 ISBN13:9781760653170 Australia RRP:$26.99 New Zealand RRP:$28.99 I’m certain that everyone has caught onto Neridah McMullin’s stunning historical picture books, but then again, there are always some who are late to the party. This is the latest, and is both a rousing adventure and a fascinating slice of history that will…

  • Wear a Purple Poppy: remembering animals in war – Fiona White. Illustrated by Kathleen O’Hagan

    Hachette Australia JAN 31, 2024 | 9780734421630 | RRP $24.99 I feel certain that there are many who will remember clearly the AWM publication M is for Mate, which was produced to coincide with the A is for Animals exhibition at the AWM, was short-listed for the 2010 CBCA Eve Pownall Award and distributed to schools. It was a…