Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

Nerra Deep Time Traveller: The Broken Rainbow – Tasma Walton & Samantha Campbell

SCHOLASTIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD October 2023 ISBN: 9781760264567ISBN-10: 1760264563 RRP: $15.99 If you have readers who have been enjoying the Wylah series (and other First Nations contemporary narratives), then this new series is going to be a sure-fire winner. Nerra is a young girl with a strong connection to her culture and Country. She is especially close…

September 22, 2023
The Welcome to Country Handbook: a guide to Indigenous Australia – Professor Marcia Langton

Hardie Grant June 2023 ISBN: 9781741178227 Publisher: Hardie Grant Explore RRP: $32.99 Professor Langton’s Welcome to Country, now in its 2nd edition, was hailed as a major comprehensive work on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia: culture, customs, history, etiquette, performance and more. Now we have this fantastic companion volume which draws on the information…

July 8, 2023
Walking in Gagudju Country: exploring the monsoon forest – Diane Lucas, Ben Tyler and Emma Long

Allen & Unwin June 2021 ISBN:9781760525958 Awards: Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $29.99 There would be few of us in school library land who have not used Walking with the Seasons in Kakadu as part of our teaching program with lower grades, as they learn about weather and seasonal calendars. Now we can…

July 7, 2023
We Didn’t Think It Through – Gary Lonesborough

Allen & Unwin July 2023 ISBN: 9781760526931 Publisher: A&U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children RRP: $19.99 We are all aware of the rise in youth crime – one would have to living in a hermit’s cave not to know about it. And most of us are aware that in some areas, the problem is…

July 4, 2023
My Little Barlaagany (Sunshine) – Melissa Greenwood

Harper Collins Australia May 2023 Gumbaynggirr artist Melissa Greenwood has created another beautiful and stylish picture book to add to your collection of First Nations titles. This is a dreamy and gentle bedtime love story between mother and child, country and culture. With a text that is interspersed with words from her own traditional language,…

June 1, 2023
My Deadly Boots – Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler. Illustrated by Samantha Campbell.

Hachette August 2022 ISBN 9780734421456 RRP: $24.99 Spikes on the bottom boots,my favourite colour boots,making me too deadly. Watch it being read here on ABC Education – a fantastic read-aloud with added insights from narrator Shelley Ware. No doubt about it – getting new footy boots is a big deal. When you’ve saved and bought…

November 11, 2022
Back on Country – Adam Goodes/Ellie Laing. Illustrated by David Hardy

Allen & Unwin November 2022 Imprint: A&U Children ISBN: 9781761065088 RRP: $24.99 Another stunning addition to the Welcome to Our Country series from this fabulous team of creators. This is, undoubtedly, one of the most highly acclaimed resources for inclusive teaching of cross-cultural perspectives in the classroom and I have yet to see or hear…

November 8, 2022
Ceremony: Welcome to Our Country – Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing. Illustrated by David Hardy.

Allen & Unwin April 2022 ISBN: 9781761065064 RRP: $24.99 Oh David Hardy, you have excelled yourself! I think we have all been eagerly anticipating the next title in this Welcome to Our Country series, the joyful introduction to First Nations history for younger readers, especially given the triumph of the first title Somebody’s Land. For…

March 20, 2022