Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Mim and the Mother Muddle: The Travelling Bookshop # 6 – Katrina Nannestad

    Harper Collins Australia March 2025 Young fans of this delightful series will be excited for this new one, in which we finally get to meet Mim’s mother. The travelling bookshop has arrived in Salzburg, which was not their intended destination, but as usual Flossy, the Clydesdale, knows exactly where they ought to be. And, indeed,…

  • The Marvellous Submarine -Zane Clayton Comber (The Marvellous Submarine, #1) Clayton Zane Comber. Connor McCammon

    Harper Collins Australia April 2025 This hails the start of a new series, co-written and illustrated by this pair from Kiama [one of my favourite places in the country] which will completely hook your young readers, particularly those who have been languishing for more Treehouse-like books. It is completely absurd and crazy and all the…

  • Manslaughter Park -Tirzah Price

    Harper Collins Australia January 2025 I very much enjoyed #2 in this series which I reviewed last year and did also like this one very much. Not quite as much, but that was merely a personal preference. It is just as well-written and engaging but I think tried a little too hard with the whole…

  • Sink or Swim: Frog Squad #3 – Kate and Jol Temple. Shiloh Gordon.

    Harper Collins April 2025 Everybody’s favourite famous frogs are back – leaping into action with all the finesse of the fit and feisty ‘phibians that they are. This small, but dedicated, army of frogs – drawn from all over the world [and by Shiloh Gordon] are hopping with excitement to not only meet the famous…

  • All the Ways Your Mum will Be There for You – Sarah Ayoub. Kate Moon.

    Harper Collins Well, isn’t this just like picking up a delicious iced donut! Look at those gorgeous colours on the cover art – and shininess as well! And that’s exactly the right sweet vibe for this cute rhyming book that explores all the things mothers do for their offspring. From picnics to roadtrips, reading to…

  • Neeka and the Missing Key: Wilder Zoo #1 – Tina Strachan

    Harper Collins Last night (13/03) I had another wonderful evening at Quick Brown Fox bookshop for a Reading Between the Wines event. Tina Strachan was one of the authors, and it was fortuitous that I had just read this first in her series. We all know that so many kiddos are mad for animal stories,…

  • A Good Kind of Trouble – Brooke Blurton and Melanie Saward

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 This is another great novel coming from WA with fresh new voices and perspectives, and one of my most enjoyable reads of last year [I was reading the proof to write the teaching notes]. Jamie is a lively and intelligent girl who is very at ease with both her Aboriginality…

  • The Chronicles of Wetherwhy: the Age of Enchantment – Anna James

    Harper Collins September 2024 After the roaring success of her Pages & Co series, Anna James has kicked off an engaging new series with which I am already wholly engaged, as I’m sure will be your readers. Everyone in Whetherwhy has magic, to a greater or lesser extent. And each person’s magic is connected to…

  • Dylan Alcott: Game On! – Dylan Alcott/Fiona Regan. Illustrated by Nahum Ziersch.

    Harper Collins November 2024 What an absolute honour it was for me to be asked to write the teaching notes for this book – the first in a series – from sporting legend, disability advocate, radio host, actor, founder of his self-named foundation, film-maker, motivational speaker, Australian of the Year and, dead-set larrikin, Dylan Alcott.…

  • Plantabulous!

    New South Books From Albatros Books/Media are two absolutely delightful new titles. Both about plants, both non-fiction, both exquisitely designed but providing lower-middle primary kiddos with information about plants from two different angles. How Plants Talk – Helena Haraštová. Illustrated by Linh Dao 9788000068114 / 1 August 2023 AUD$24.99, NZD$29.99 Your Smalls will be fascinated to see…