Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Build-Up Season – Megan Jacobson

    Penguin Random House 9780143573388 July 31, 2017 Penguin (AU YR)   RRP $19.99 What a fantastic and gripping read this is! This one had to be read over two nights but it was a wrench to leave it halfway! Ily (Iliad) Piper is a young woman who has had to face many emotional upheavals in…

  • Paper Cranes Don’t Fly – Peter Vu

    Ford St August 2017 ISBN 9781925272765 RRP $19.95 Exquisitely poignant and so beautifully written this is a young adult book which will touch the hearts of every reader. There have been other books that look at the lives of young people with life-threatening or terminal illnesses but this is the first I’ve read that really…

  • The Teenage Guide to Friends – Nicola Morgan

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781406369779 Imprint: Walker July 1, 2017 Australian RRP: $16.99 New Zealand RRP: $18.99 Nicola Morgan is a recognised expert on the teenage psyche and has already written successful and well received books. Now she turns her hand to dealing with the issue of friends and friendship. Her engaging and conversational style will certainly appeal to the…

  • Raymie Nightingale – Kate DiCamillo

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781406373189 Imprint: Walker May 1, 2017 Australian RRP: $14.99 New Zealand RRP: $16.99   I know that most folks will already know Raymie Nightingale but this paperback edition has been my ‘waiting for child pick up’ read for a few weeks so it did take me a while to get through in the short snatches. It…

  • Dotty Detective #1 Super Secret Agent – Clara Vulliamy

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN 9780008132491 ISBN 10: 0008132496 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB 01/06/2017 List Price: 4.99 AUD Girl detectives seem to be quite the popular trend of late and you will perhaps have some younger readers who want to get in on this but are not quite ready for some of the books on offer. This new series will…

  • Piggy – Trevor Lai

    Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781681190655 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Imprint: BLM Children’s USA  January 2017 RRP $19.00   What’s not to love about a cute little pig who loves to read so much that he’s never made any friends?  Piggy has always been so immersed in his books and the library that it is almost a…

  • Glitch – Michelle Worthington/Andrew Spark

    Ford St Publishing July 2017 Author: Michelle Worthington Illustrator: Andrew Plant   ISBN 978192527271   RRP $16.99   Here is a really lovely picture book about friendship, self confidence, and persistence, upcycling, overcoming anxiety and being positive.   Glitch is a twitchy little bug who lives in the dump and just loves recycling junk into useful things…

  • Little Lunch series – Danny Katz/Mitch Vane

      Walker Books I said earlier today that I’m not that across kids’ TV but this is one show I’ve watched with Miss K and we both think it is very funny.  She, like other kids, because she thinks the antics of the kids and their interactions a real hoot and me, because I reckon…

  • The Fighting Stingrays – Simon Mitchell

    Penguin Random House 9780143784104 July 31, 2017 Puffin (AU YR) RRP $17.99 This is, in old parlance, a ripping yarn – a real Boys’ Own adventure. Charlie, Alf and Masa are the best of mates who go to school together, fish, swim and most of all are ‘The Fighting Stingrays’ determined to beat all imaginary…

  • Tell it to the Moon- Siobhan Curham

    Walker Books ISBN: 9781406366150 1 Aug 2017 RRP $16.99   Readers of The Moonlight Dreamers will be delighted to receive this second book in the series – I know I was!   The four girls who formed the Moonlight Dreamers club because none of them felt like they fitted in anywhere else are back and…