Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Wolves of Greycoat Hall – Lucinda Gifford

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781760651596Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $19.99New Zealand RRP: $22.99 Despite it being the last week of term, this was another fun read this week and one that I enjoyed immensely with so much to commend it, particularly to your middle primary kiddos. The Greycoat family – Randall, Leonora and their only cub, Boris – live in…

  • What Zola did on Tuesday – Melina Marchetta

    Penguin Australia August 2020 ISBN: 9781760895167 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $12.99 I reviewed the first in this joyful series a little while back and now we have the delight of the second instalment which is just as gorgeous! Zola and her cousin over the back fence, Alessandro, would love to get to meet their new neighbours – more playmates!…

  • Family – Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson. Illustrated by Jasmine Seymour

    Magabala Books July 2020 ISBN 9781925936285 RRP: $24.99 This is the second in the beautiful and enlightening Our Place series and continues the sharing of cultural identity and perspective in a way that is easily accessible by even the youngest of readers. This relatively simple story accompanied by its stunning illustrations eloquently defines the meaning…

  • The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle – Pamela Rushby

    Walker Books Australia July 2020 Illustrated by Nelle May Pierce ISBN: 9781760651930Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 When I mentioned that I was reading this Pamela Rushby commented that she had written the sort of book she would have liked to read when she was eleven. She’s also written the sort of book that I would…

  • Top End Girl – Miranda Tapsell

    Hachette Australia APR 28, 2020 | 9780733642432 | RRP $32.99 A deadly memoir about being bold, black and brave in work, life and love As Reconciliation Week closes for another year how timely is it that I can share this impressive and inspirational memoir from the pint-sized dynamo Miranda Tapsell. Many will know her from The Sapphires and more…

  • The Schoolmaster’s Daughter – Jackie French

    The Schoolmaster’s Daughter – Jackie French Harper Collins Australia May 2020 ISBN: 9781460757710 ISBN 10: 1460757718 RRP: $17.99 We know so well Jackie’s passion for and skill with historical fiction and when she combines it, as she has with this new novel, with her own family history the result is even more sensational. Australia at the point…

  • Starfell: Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale [Starfell #2]- Dominique Valente

    Harper Collins Australia April 2020 ISBN: 9780008308445 ISBN 10: 0008308446 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB List Price: 16.99 AUD Being the youngest in the family is often a reason for feeling overlooked and somehow lesser and for Willow Moss this is especially true. She is both the youngest and the least magical in her family of witches. Even though in…

  • Funny Kid Peeking Duck [Funny Kid #7] – Matt Stanton

    Harper Collins Australia April 2020 ISBN: 9780733340598 ISBN 10: 0733340598 Imprint: ABC Books – AU List Price: 14.99 AUD Matt Stanton’s Max has become one of the most popular characters in Australian kids’ lit in recent years – with the first debuting at #1 Australian kids’ book in 2017. The Funny Kid continues to garner enthusiastic fans not only…

  • The Strangeworlds Travel Agency – L. D. Lapinski

    Hachette APR 28, 2020 | 9781510105942 | RRP $16.99 Twelve year old Flick Hudson is really not sure about her family’s move to a village, leaving their rather cramped flat for a much bigger home. Of course their old home wouldn’t have been so squashy if her dribbling, annoying baby brother Freddy hadn’t arrived some time before. With her…

  • Roly Poly – Mem Fox/Jane Dyer

    Penguin Random House November 2019 ISBN: 9781760896348 Imprint: Puffin Format: Hardback RRP: $19.99 This is just adorable! Of course Mem’s story about the arrival of a little usurper in the family is just delightful and  will resonate with so many small children but aside from that. those glorious illustrations! They remind me so much of Jeannie Baker’s Polar…