Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Frog Squad: #1 Dessert Disaster- Kate and Jol Temple

    Harper Collins Australia May 2024 People who know me are well aware of my love of wordplay, especially puns, so this hilarious new series is right up my alley. You might say I almost jumped for joy and honestly, your kiddos will find it un-frog-ettable as well. The Frog Squad is an elite group of…

  • The Last Kids on Earth Survival Guide – Max Brallier/Illustrated by Douglas Holgate.

    Harper Collins Australia I have to be honest here. This entire series had completely bypassed me and, certainly, I wasn’t aware of a Netflix series either (but then it wouldn’t fall within my usual viewing range) but I can completely see the appeal of this immediately. This week my 2nd oldest grandson turned 25, and…

  • The Last Bookwanderer: Pages & Co #6 – Anna James. Illustrations by Marco Guadolupi.

    Harper Collins Australia March 2024 Synchronicity has been a theme in my life the last few weeks and reading this was no exception. I started reading it two nights ago, the same day I started listening to David Mitchell’s Unruly on audio in the car. I’d enjoyed one of the early chapters in which DM,…

  • The Wonder of Small Things (Young Readers edition) – Vince Copley with Lea McInerney

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 Most readers of this blog know that my kids and grandies are Aboriginal – Wiradjuri mob. For my thirty+ years of teaching, I’ve been a learner of cross-cultural knowledge, embedded these perspectives in my teaching programmes and availed myself of every opportunity to find out more. But, I’ll be honest,…

  • This Book Kills – Ravena Guron

    Harper Collins Australia March 2024 I recently read someone ‘predicting’ that murder mystery for teens/YA was going to be a big new trend this year. I have news for them. It has been for quite a few years now as any of the devotees of Karen McManus, Holly Jackson or Robin Stevens will affirm –…

  • The Samosa Rebellion – Shanthi Sekaran

    Harper Collins AustraliaNovember 2023 This author is completely new to me, but by all accounts very well-known and highly thought of in America where she is a novelist and TV writer. This is her first middle-grade book and completely captivated me from the first page. Set in the fictional island nation of Mariposa, protagonist Muki…

  • Salt Water Therapy

                              Here are four picture books all of which centre on the ocean but with very different purpose, style and execution, each of them truly lovely.   Beach Song – Ros Moriarty. Illustrated by Samantha Campbell Allen & Unwin January 2024 ISBN:9781761180248 Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $24.99 Ros Moriarty comments ‘my emotional wellbeing…

  • Time Travelling with a Tortoise – Ross Welford

    Harper Collins Australia January 2024 I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of Ross Welford’s books that I have read. These adventures are chockful of adventure, humour, heart and a sense of the absurd, and every time I’ve pushed one into a reader’s hands they have come back for more. That, for me, says it…

  • Sense and Second-degree Murder – Tirzah Price

    Harper Collins Australia November 2023 Book #2 Jane Austen Murder Mysteries Now that I’ve read this one, I’d really like to get hold of #1 because this is a really top-notch, fresh take on detective stories. Of course, young ladies in Regency England did not pursue business, nor study chemistry and so on, but a…

  • The Case of the Fishy Detective (Einstein the Penguin, Book 2) – Iona Rangeley

    Harper Collins Australia October 2023 I thoroughly enjoyed Einstein’s first outing, and enjoyed this second one just as much, particularly as it is often a challenge finding that next book for readers moving on from the easy chapter books to something with a little more substance and length. Ever since Imogen’s and Arthur’s first adventure…