Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Girl and the Ghost – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia April 2025 OMG!!! JH fans, both young and old, are about to lose their minds!!! This fabulous new book, which I gobbled up in two sittings, heralds the start of another new series from the best-selling author, who really knows how to reach her audience. In this instance, the audience has just expanded…

  • Ghostlines – Katya Balen

    Bloomsbury Publishing January 2025 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing ISBN 9781526663870 RRP: $16.99 Since the first Katya Balen title that came into my hands in 2019, I have loved this writer’s work. Obviously given her 2022 Carnegie Medal, I’m not the only one. Each time her characters are flawlessly executed, with plots that are fresh and…

  • My Big Secret – Felice Arena

    Penguin Australia ISBN: 9781761349706 RRP: $19.99 As he well knows, I didn’t have a clue who he was back in the days of Neighbours on TV, given I never watched it, but it makes me very happy to now count Felice Arena among my friendship circle. Not only have I reviewed many of his numerous books…

  • Summer of Shipwrecks – Shivaun Plozza

    UQP September 2024 ISBN 9780702268373 RRP: $16.99 2024 was, as I’ve said many times, a year for splendid Australian middle-grade novels and this, the latest from Shivaun Plozza is a prime example. That transition between end of primary/start of secondary is a difficult time for many tweens. It’s often a time when long-held friendships unravel…

  • The Skin I’m In – Steph Tisdell

    Pan Macmillan July 2024 ISBN: 9781760984977 RRP: $26.99 It took me a while to get to this one on the review shelf, but when I did, it didn’t take me long to read it – I chomped it up over 3 nights and loved every vibrant word of it. Then of course it was Picture Book…

  • It’s Christmas Time in Brisbane – Wendy Kelly. Illustrated by Magdalena Almevo Nocea.

    Boolarong Press 2017 ISBN 9781925236590 RRP: $19.99 Yes, I thought I had finished! But this is a late arrival. It’s not a newly published title, but I only just discovered its existence recently (thanks to Quick Brown Fox! for the heads up and Boolarong Press for the speedy sending!) and with perfect timing it was…

  • Clementine’s Christmas- Annie White

    New South Books New Frontier October 2024 9781923145061 / AUD$26.99, NZD$32.99 Not so long ago I had the pleasure of seeing Annie’s skill with dogs in Julie Murphy’s Dog Beach and now she brings her popular canine character, Clementine, back for a humorous Christmas romp that your Smalls will enjoy greatly. The narrative is an easy and…

  • Goose on Christmas Eve: poems for children – Marg Gibbs

    Marg Gibbs October 2024 ISBN 978 0 6451309 8 0 (pbk) RRP: $28.00 Bookish local and writer, Marg Gibbs [I say local because Mapleton is close enough for us to regard as part of our piece of SE Qld] has called upon family and friends to put together an anthology that reflects not only the…

  • Thunderhead – Sophie Beer

    Allen & Unwin October 20249781761180958 RRP: $19.99 I do know I’m repeating myself but truly, 2024 has been a bumper year for Australian MG novels – they just keep on coming. This is another one that I ate up in two swift sessions. Thunderhead is not your usual protagonist. They are definitely in the unusual…

  • Too Scared to Sleep – Shaun Micallef. Illustrated by Jonathan Bentley.

    Hardie Grant Australia September 2024 Imprint: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing ISBN:9781761213090 Price: AU$24.99, NZ$27.99 And I’ve saved the best till last for this Halloween. Now, I’ll be truthful. Most times, when I see a ‘celebrity’ name on a new book cover, I inwardly cringe because frankly, there are some celebrities who should just stick to…