Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Red Day – Sandy Fussell

      Walker Books Australia March 2020 ISBN: 9781760651886 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It seems very apt to be reviewing Sandy Fussell’s latest book today as we commemorate ANZAC Day albeit in a very different way to the usual events. This is a very powerful story which blends contemporary life in small…

  • To the Bridge – Corinne Fenton. Illustrated by Andrew McLean

    Walker Books Australia April 2020 ISBN: 9781925126822 Imprint: Walker Books Australia Australian RRP: $26.99 New Zealand RRP: $29.99 If ever there was a story to inspire kids to follow their dreams this surely has to be one that is right up there with the best. In our modern world it seems completely unbelievable that a nine-year-old boy and his…

  • Trouble in the Surf – Stephanie Owen Reeder and Briony Stewart

      National Library of Australia October 2019 Publisher:   National Library of Australia Edition:   1st Edition ISBN:   9780642279460 RRP: $24.99 Stephanie Owen Reeder always excels at creating engaging narratives that are underwritten with historical facts and this picture book is no exception. To all intents and purposes it is merely the story of two cousins who go…

  • The Ghost of Howler’s Beach (The Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1)  – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia February 2020 ISBN: 9781460757727 ISBN 10: 1460757726 List Price: 16.99 AUD   To most folks Butter O’Bryan would seem a lucky boy.  In a time when many people are destitute and homeless he lives in a large and comfortable house, known as the Very Small Castle, he has three eccentric but loving aunts –  known…

  • Will the Wonderkid: Treasure Hunter of the Australian Outback – Stephanie Owen Reeder

      National Library of  Australia February 2020 ISBN:   9780642279521 RRP: $24.99 I adore this series! In Heritage Heroes, Reeder not only takes her readers on adventures but provides rich fodder for hunters of history. Each volume has explored the (often unknown) achievements of young Australian people of the past in a fictionalised narrative which is lavishly…

  • Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga #9) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins October 2019 ISBN: 9781460754771 ISBN 10: 1460754778 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 29.99 AUD This little hobby of mine has brought me so much richness. I’m able to read the newest titles from so many fabulous creators. But as you probably have realised I stand in complete awe of our maven of literature for children, teens…

  • Pirate Boy of Sydney Town – Jackie French

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9781460754795 ISBN 10: 1460754794 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU May 2019 RRP: 16.99 AUD Just a few weeks ago I reviewed the third in Jackie’s Miss Lily series and now it’s another superb historical fiction, plus I have two others on my review shelf. I begin to wonder when the woman sleeps! Her prodigious output, the diversity…

  • Mamie – Tania McCartney

      Harper Collins November 2018 ISBN: 9781460755860 ISBN 10: 1460755863 RRP $24.99 In this the centenary celebration year of May Gibbs’ iconic Australian children’s book, Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie , how perfectly timely it is to have a new book which brings the creator to life for younger readers. When May first wrote her stories she…

  • The Secret of the Youngest Rebel (The Secret Histories #5) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Available: 21st January 2019 ISBN: 9781460754801 RRP: $14.99   If you have not yet set about acquiring Jackie’s enthralling Secret Histories series it is definitely time to catch up to it. As this school year peters out and we limp towards the finish line, some are already thinking about 2019 and our support of our…

  • Inheritance – Carole Wilkinson

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781760650360 Imprint: Black Dog Books Release Date: September 1, 2018 Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 Carole Wilkinson has created a superbly plausible narrative which realistically weaves historic realism from Australia’s past from the perspective of both First Australians and early white settlers putting an ugly side to the beginnings of our modern nation in full…