Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Check out my review of this new series – Our Stories – at Kids Book Review – a perfect way to get your youngest readers thinking about diversity – some quality creators behind this!

  • The Ghost Locket – Allison Rushby

    Walker Books April 1st 2022 ISBN: 9781760654153Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaDistributor: Walker AustraliaBinding:Release Date: April 1, 2022 Australian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 Allison Rushby has repeatedly proven her gift for suspenseful spookiness for middle-grade readers and this new book, in my opinion, might just have tipped the scales of my favourite so far. Eleven-year-old Lolli (Olivia) has never known her mother,…

  • Ming & Flo Fight for the Future: (The Girls Who Changed the World #1) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins March 2022 A brand new series from Jackie French is always cause for great excitement, and this one is going to be a corker, given this fabulous start! We have all been awed by Jackie’s wealth of historical novels and her indomitable female characters over the years. Now younger readers have the opportunity…

  • Banjo Tully – Justin D’Ath

    Ford St Publishing September 2021 ISBN: 9781925804904 RRP: $17.95 It was a hair salon day and as usual, I took a book with me – one I’d only unpacked from its box this morning – although I have some others still half-read, because I always love Justin’s writing. And this was no exception – I…

  • The Magical Bookshop – Katja Frixe. Illustrated by Florentine Prechtel. Translated by Ruth Ahmedzal Kemp.

    Bloomsbury September 2021 Imprint: OneWorld ISBN: 9781786075666 RRP: $14.99 Such a sweet and happy book this is! Translated from the German with great dexterity while retaining just the right amount of that quirkiness of expression that European children’s books often have, this is just a delight from start to finish. Mrs Owl’s bookshop is full…

  • Pax, Journey Home – Sara Pennypacker

    Harper Collins September 2021 ISBN: 9780008470289 ISBN 10: 0008470286 Imprint: HarperCollins GB List Price: 19.99 AUD When Peter joins the Water Warriors, a group determined to repair the ravages of the war, his primary intention it to work his way back to his old home, although he knows there is nothing left for him there. He desperately tries to…

  • Kensy and Max #8: High Voltage – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia September 2021 ISBN: 9781760898557 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 Get ready for your kiddos to clamour to be the first – and then the next – to borrow Jacqueline Harvey’s newest book in the dynamite Kensy and Max series! This is another knock-out episode in the thrilling adventures of the twins and their family and friends –…

  • Sofa Surfer – Malcolm Duffy

    Harper Collins Australia May 2021 ISBN: 9781786697684 ISBN 10: 1786697688 Imprint: Head Of Zeus – Zehpyr GB RRP $16.99 On any given night in Australia 116,427 Australians are homeless. 27,680 of these are young people aged 12-24 years. Most of the homeless youth aged 12–18 years in 2016 were living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings (61%) or in supported accommodation for…

  • The Werewolves who Weren’t – T. C. Shelley

    You can read my review of this fabulous second instalment in this series at Kids Book Review now!

  • The Valley of Lost Secrets – Lesley Parr

    Bloomsbury Australia February 2021 ISBN: 9781526620521 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $14.99 Omg, I can’t tell you how much I loved this read during the week!! It completely reminds me of two much-loved favourites, Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden and Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian (both of which I own and have re-read many…