Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Middle of Nowhere [Usborne Modern Classics] – Geraldine McCaughrean

    Harper Collins October 2018 ISBN: 9781409570516 ISBN 10: 1409570517 Imprint: Usborne – GB List Price: 14.99 AUD Rarely have I read a book which so captures the Australian landscape, isolation and the deep abiding racism of times gone past which has been written by a non-Australian but this is superb. Taut, thrilling and anxiety-making the narrative follows the friendship…

  • The Whispers – Greg Howard

      Penguin 9780241367087 January 22, 2019 Puffin $14.99   Riley has not been coping so well since his mother disappeared. Neither his father nor his brother seems as concerned as he is. Even his much loved grandparents appear to be disengaged from his urgency to solve the mystery. His seemingly never-ending meetings with the police…

  • The Girl Who Thought Her Mother was a Mermaid – Tania Unsworth

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN: 9781788547796 ISBN 10: 1788547799 Imprint: Head Of Zeus – Zehpyr – GB On Sale: 24/09/2018 RRP $14.99 This is a quite lovely blending of old selkie folklore, fairy tale and a young girl’s search for her own true self as well as her lost mother. Stella feels she is always the odd one out and…

  • Dogs Galore!

    A handful of doggy books for the canine lovers amongst us all… My Dog Socks – Robyn Osbourne/Sadami Konchi Ford St Publishing ISBN: 9781925272826 (hardcover) 9781925272833 (paperback) Publication date: October 2017 (hardcover) March 2018 (paperback) Price: AUD$24.95 (hardcover) AUD$16.95 (paperback)   Although it has taken me a while to get to this book that does not diminish…

  • The Storm Keeper’s Island – Catherine Doyle

    Bloomsbury Australia August 2018 ISBN: 9781408896884 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP :$14.99 What a simply sparkling debut novel! It did take me two nights rather than my usual one (but I confess a little tiredness even after a week of holidays) but it was simply page-turning and thoroughly engrossing. Fionn Boyle and his older sister…

  • Bring on the Empty Horses, so the old saying goes…….

    …though these are far from ’empty………..   As my village knows Miss Small has now been riding for about 18 months and is about to compete in her second show tomorrow (last show she got a first in her class of Beginner Rider!) so despite a lifetime in almost total ignorance of riding, except for…

  • The Snow Angel – Lauren St John

    Harper Collins Zephyr Books/Head of Zeus ISBN  9781786695895 October 2017 RRP $19.99   It’s a long way from the wide blue skies and shimmering heat haze of Kenya to the bleak snow covered moors of Inverness and for 12 year old Makena the journey is not just a geographical one. Much loved only child of…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Exchange of Heart – Darren Groth

    Penguin Random House 9780143781578 July 31, 2017 Random House Australia Children’s $19.99 If you were impressed with Groth’s 2014 novel Are You Seeing Me? you will be likewise taken with his new one and his ability to blend heartbreak and humour into one splendid story. Munro Maddux has taken a desperate step in his grief…