Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • In Plain Sight: Friday Barnes #13 – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia It was quite synchronistic to get #13 Friday Barnes arriving on Friday 13th, I thought! And, needless to say, I promptly gobbled it up over two nights with much snickering and snort laughing [No R. A. Spratt is ever read without the snaughling!]. The Friday romp continues with our intrepid but ‘special’ detective,…

  • Bedtime Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia August 2023 It is a well-known fact in my circle, that R. A. Spratt habitually makes me snort-laugh. So I really had to prepare myself (and The Kid) for random outbursts of bizarre guffawing as I enjoyed my way through this gargantuan offering. There is something to please everyone here. Although, for me,…

  • Friday Barnes 11: Last Chance – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia Oh Friday, you just get betterer and betterer! Readers will remember my anecdote of the dismay felt by my coterie of Friday fans, when the ‘last’ in the (original) series was announced, and was confirmed by my (then) recent conversation with Rachel over afternoon tea. Subsequently – and by then in a different…

  • Astonishingly Good Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia August 2022 Now with a day off at my disposal, due to having no voice left with which to teach, I am trying to catch up with reviews, and really it is dead lucky I had already read this latest volume, because there is no doubt that strenuous laughing of the Spratt-induced kind…

  • Friday Barnes #10: Undercover – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia February 2022 ISBN: 9781761043659 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $15.99 Some readers of this blog may recall my review of the ‘re-appearance’ of Friday and her cronies. My kiddos at school lost their minds when it hit the shelves so make sure you stand back again because the rush will be on. Now that Friday et al are…

  • Shockingly Good Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia ISBN: 9781761043376 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $19.99 The hilarious author, R. A. Spratt, knows well that her stories make me snort laugh in an extremely undignified manner. I do my utmost to keep these moments private as I have noted that when reading hilarious stories from what is obviously a kids’ book on a train full of…

  • Friday Barnes #9: No Escape – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia February 2021 ISBN: 9781760895761 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $15.99 R. A. Spratt (aka Rachel) said to me ‘NO spoilers’ when I mentioned I was about to review this new Friday Barnes instalment and given she is both fit and feisty albeit small, I am not about to quibble! So here’s my rather ‘different’ review ;-). A) Friday…

  • Friday Barnes 7: Bitter Enemies – Rachel Spratt

    Penguin Random House 9780143784197 July 31, 2017 Random House Australia Children’s RRP $15.99   Beginning of term at Highcrest Academy has never been so dreary and desolate. Melanie and Ian are both depressed and missing their quirky best friend Friday, who has been whisked off to Switzerland to be with her family and attend Europe’s…

  • Friday Barnes #5 The Plot Thickens – R. A. Spratt

    9780857989932 August 1, 2016 Random House Australia Children’s   RRP $15.99 I have some readers who have been driving us mad in the library waiting and waiting on a new Friday Barnes fix – and here it is! Friday’s at her best solving mysteries, uncovering truth, being a complete dork and antagonising people in this…