Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Our Dance – Jacinta Daniher & Taylor Hampton. Illustrations by Janelle Burger

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books Apr 30, 2025 | 9780734423429 | RRP $24.99 As one might expect from this pair of collaborators this is cross-cultural learning made fun and exciting. Taylor Hampton, a proud Ngiyampaa/Wiradjuri man and Jacinta Daniher, an early childhood educator created Birrang Cultural Connections, to which I have previously made reference when I reviewed Our…

  • Tubowgule – a Sydney Opera House History – Melissa-Jane Fogarty. Illustrated by Dylan Finney.

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Books March 2025 9780734423351 | RRP $24.99 I’m old enough to have walked on Bennelong Point before the Opera House was built, and then walk around the construction site as the sails rose ever higher [not much WHS in those days, no fencing around the site!] picking up bits of broken white tile.…

  • Young Dark Emu: a Truer History – Bruce Pascoe

    Imprint: Magabala Books Hachette Books February 2025 ISBN: 9781922777508 RRP: $29.99 Eleven years ago this month, I had the great pleasure of reading and reviewing Dark Emu – Blackseeds: Accident or Agriculture? for Magabala and in that review, I commented on how much new information I gleaned from this detailed and knowledge-based account from a…

  • Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West – Jacinta Liu & Freda Chiu

    Hachette Australia Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books Mar 26, 2025 | 9780734421791 | RRP $24.99 I believe many of you will have experienced or know children with mixed cultural heritage, just as I have. Not just as an educator of many years, nor even the fact that I taught at many schools with vibrantly diverse communities. Even growing up in…

  • Q&A with Lisa Fuller

    Well folks, I promised you a Q&A with Lisa and wowzers! I reckon it’s one of the best I’ve ever had in the 10+ years of JSS!! Lisa, welcome to Just So Stories and thank you so much for taking time to share with my readers. I’m especially glad to have you visit as 30…

  • Washpool – Lisa Fuller

    Hachette Australia Feb 26, 2025 | 9780734420756 | RRP $16.99 Let’s see. Take a little of Alice down the rabbit hole, and mix that with a smidgin of Oz. Then add in some snippets of lands reached using the Subtle Knife plus some of the strangeness of Nevermoor. After that, throw in some Upside Down and sprinkle it all…

  • The Brightest Christmas Star – Laura Motherway and Deb Hudson

    Hachette Australia Aug 2024 | 9780734423085 | RRP $19.99 Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books One thing we educators endeavour to instil in our Smalls is that, despite differences – whether race, colour, creed, culture etc – we all have commonalities. And for those little ones it is simple things that underline this concept. We all smile. We all play. We…

  • Over or Under – Pip Harry & Hilary Jean Tapper

    Hachette Australia Oct 30, 2024 | 9780734421807 | RRP $24.99 Imprint: Lothian Books I’m jumping waves at the beach with Dad.If they’re small I can leap over their frothy peaks.Easy!But further out, when they’re big, you have to duck dive under. We are always looking for ways in which to encourage our Smalls to be brave and take risks…

  • Picture Book Month extra: The Death of Dora Black: a Petticoat Police Mystery – Lainie Anderson

    Hachette Australia Aug 28, 2024 | 9780733652066 | RRP $32.99 What a thoroughly enjoyable read this has been over the past few nights! I’m a tragic when it comes to cosy crime and murder mystery books and over the past couple of years I’ve had quite a number of YA titles to review, and also listened to a few…

  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Extinct Animals – Sami Bayly

    Hachette Australia September 2024  9780734421395 | RRP $32.99 Watch this interview with Sami from The Morning Show to hear more about this latest book. It seems almost incredible to realise that Sami Bayly is not yet 30 ! [maybe that’s me because I’m so senior citizen now], given her amazing catalogue of titles thus far. This is…