Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 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…

  • Pippa’s Island #1: The Beach Shack Café – Belinda Murrell

    Penguin Random House ISBN 9780143783671 July 3, 2017 Random House Australia Children’s RRP: $14.99   Belinda Murrell, one of our best loved authors, has cracked it again with a splendid new series once again celebrating family, friendships, community spirit and girl power :).  Throw in a simply gorgeous tropical island setting and you have a…

  • The Butterfly Dance – Suzanne Barton

    Allen & Unwin Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 9781408864845 ISBN-10: 1408864843 1st April 2017 RRP $24.99 Butterflies are very important in our house. We know when we see them that Mummy is watching and we can send her our messages. So this beautiful happy book was very well received. Not only is it sweet and pretty but there…

  • How The Queen Found The Perfect Cup Of Tea

    By Kate Hosford Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska ISBN: 9781467739047 Imprint: Lerner PG – Carolrhoda Books Distributor: Walker Australia-HEDS April 1, 2017 Australian RRP: $24.99 New Zealand RRP: $27.99 Life as the Queen is pretty luxurious. There are maids to help one get dressed each day and footmen to serve delicious beverages and food. Still, this particular Queen grows very dissatisfied especially with…

  • Crazy Characters & Daft Deeds

      I’ve chosen to review these two books on the same post as to me they are similar in many ways all of which will appeal to their audience.  Both Colin Thompson and A.F. Harrold have a singular and individualised way of providing satirical humour for a pint-sized readership. They also both employ that  every…

  • The Famishing Vanishing Mahoosive Mammoth – Hollie Hughes/Leigh Hodgkinson

    Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN: 9781408862780 Publisher: Bloomsbury Imprint: Bloomsbury Child Pub Date: August 2016 RRP $14.99 This hilarious rhyming book is just pure good fun for little readers. The huge hairy mammoth has a ‘ridiculously large appetite’ and his great friend the Bug is beginning to despair of ever finding the snack that will…

  • Archie Green and the Alchemist’s Curse – D. D. Everest

    Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN: 9780571307418 Publisher: Faber Imprint: Faber Children Pb Pub Date: August 2016 $14.99   Move over Harry, you have a rival for my affections! Somehow or other I missed the first book in this fabulous series (that will need to be redressed ASAP) but no matter, I was able to pick…

  • Be a Friend – Salina Yoon

    Bloomsbury August 2016 ISBN 9781408809093 RRP $14.99   There are plenty of children who are different in some way or another and often they are subject to being ‘left out’. Dennis is quite an ordinary boy but he communicates in somewhat an extraordinary way. When his classmates do ‘show and tell’ Dennis mimes his news.…