Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Bapa’s Last Canoe – Maree McCarthy Yoelu, Samanta Campbell

    Publisher: Magabala Books Distributor: Hachette Oct 14, 2025 | 9781922777775 | RRP $27.99 For many of our kiddos, the very idea of going far away from home to go to school is a strange concept. But then, so is a journey by dug-out canoe taking months to say goodbye to family and friends, before going to the big smoke…

  • Silver Linings – Katrina Nannestad

    Harper Collins Australia I cannot begin to tell you how impatiently I have waited to post this review. When I was invited to write teaching notes for a new Katrina Nannestad book, I was absolutely thrilled. Then, when I read the manuscript for this beautiful, funny, poignant, life-affirming narrative, I realised how easy it would…

  • Last Man Out – Louise Park

    Wild Dog Books April 2023 RRP: $24.99 Sometimes a book comes along that just has the most profound impact on you, as a reader and, in this case, also as an avid history nerd. Louise Park’s new publication is just such a book. In the sort of way that makes one tingle – not to…

  • The Missing: the True Story of my Family in World War II – Michael Rosen

    Walker Books March 2020 ISBN: 9781406386752 Imprint: Walker Australian RRP: $22.99 New Zealand RRP: $24.99 First of all I have to say that I have the greatest admiration for Laureate Michael Rosen, both as a writer, a champion of children’s reading and school libraries and as a human. His writing over the years has always resonated with readers both…