Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • A Great Piratical Rumbustification

    Ok yes, we do know that pirates have been romanticised over the years and we also know that there are pirates in the modern world, including the ones in office politically but there is absolutely no denying that fictional pirates still hold a real fascination for readers both young and old. As it happens, three…

  • Mutt Dog! 21st Anniversary Edition – Stephen Michael King

    Scholastic Australia November 2025 ISBN: 9781761723780 RRP: $19.99 I know I say this a lot – but these anniversary editions!! they remind me just how long I’ve been a teacher-librarian. Don’t get me wrong – that’s a good thing but sometimes it seems like only yesterday when a particular book first came my way. In…

  • Jack’s Island – Norman Jorgensen

    Fremantle Press January 2024 ISBN: 9781760992958 RRP: $17.99 Since its initial publication in 2008, Norman Jorgensen’s award-winning historical novel has proven not only an enduring popular choice for many class novel studies, but as a first-rate adventure constantly in circulation among readers from around Year 5 to Year 8. Based on stories from his own father,…

  • Monster – Walter Dean Myers

    Harper Collins Australia December 2021 ISBN: 9780064407311 ISBN 10: 0064407314 Imprint: HarperCollins US List Price: 19.99 AUD I will be perfectly honest. I had not heard of Walter Dean Myers before reading this book but since looking up his bio, see that he was, and is a highly regarded writer of, particularly, young adult fiction in the USA. Sometimes…

  • Round the Twist – Paul Jennings

    Penguin Australia February 2022 ISBN: 9780140342130 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $14.99 I was saying to someone just yesterday that, in our pursuit to promote new books, we sometimes forget that back catalogue titles also demand to be shared as each new crop of readers comes along. I am acquainted with so many young adults (that is, anyone younger than…