Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Other Worlds #3 & #4 – George Ivanoff

      Penguin Random House RRP $14.99 #3 Game World 9780143786238 May 28, 2018 Random House Australia Children’s   George’s new series will be just as popular as his previous offerings I predict and this one particularly is clearly going to have huge appeal to the ‘gamers’ in your reading audience. Hall is not very special…

  • Surf Riders Club 2: Bronte’s Big Sister Problem – Mary Van Reyk

    Hachette Australia FEB 27, 2018 | 9780734417923 | RRP $12.99   As I predicted the first in this series has been very popular in our library – after all we are in the beautiful Sunshine Coast and surfing is a prime pastime! So I have no doubt at all that this second in the series will be just as…

  • The Chocolate Factory Ghost – David O’Connell

    Bloomsbury ISBN: 9781408887066 ISBN-10: 1408887061 Series: The Dundoodle Mysteries Published: 1st May 2018 Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing RRP; $12.99 Archie McBudge has lucky underpants. He knows he does because he and his mum have just discovered that Archie has inherited a huge mansion, a famous sweets factory and more from his Great-Uncle Archibald. What makes this even more astonishing is that…

  • Pippa’s Island 4: Camp Castaway – Belinda Murrell

    Penguin Random House ISBN 9780143783725 April 2, 2018 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP: $14.99   I may have had to wait a while for my review copy to arrive but it was completely worth it. If ever a ‘sea change’ from dull dreary winter normality was needed it was now and this was just…

  • Alice-Miranda in Scotland [#17]– Jacqueline Harvey

    Random House Australia Children’s ISBN 9780143786016 May 2018 RRP $16.99   What could possibly be more delightful than our favourite BFF immersed in Scotland’s culture and icons?  The inaugural Queen’s Colours leadership program for children is kicking off in the land of Burns, Bruce and Braveheart and Alice-Miranda (after a tricky start) as well as…

  • The 1, 000-Year-Old Boy – Ross Welford

    Harper Collins Australia January 2018 ISBN 10: 0008256942 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB ISBN: 9780008256944 Pages: 400 List Price: 14.99 AUD   Alfie Monk is not your average eleven year old boy. He is ‘proficient in Old Norse, Old English, Middle English and Modern English, plus French, Latin and Greek (ancient and modern, though they are not so dissimilar), and [has]…

  • Piglettes – Clementine Beauvais

    Penguin Random House Imprint: Pushkin Press ISBN 9781782691204 August 2017 RRP $16.99 This superb YA novel deals with some pretty gritty issues like bullying (cyber and real life), self image, identity and family relationships and is one of the most wickedly funny books you’ll read all year. Mireille, Astrid and Hakima are three girls at…

  • Ava’s Big Move – Surf Riders Club #1 – Mary Van Reyk

      Hachette Children’s Books Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books September 2017 9780734417909 RRP $12.99 First in a new series designed to encourage more girls into the sport of surfing this kicks off in a very promising manner. Ava’s parents have decided on a sea change which means that Ava is leaving behind her big city life,…

  • 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…