Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Pugnacious & Scuttlebutt #2: S.M.Ellybutt Strikes Back – Adam Wallace/Wayne Bryant

    Larrikin House May 2023 ISBN: 9781922804495 RRP: $14.99 This is definitely not your feel-good, cute and fluffy dog story, not that you would imagine it to be, knowing Adam’s rather – let’s say – quirky brand of creativity. Following on from the heroic pound rescue (#1 book), these two dysfunctional doggos are cruising the streets,…

  • How to Train Your Dragon 20th Anniversary Edition: Book 1 – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette When this first arrived, aside from the fact that I was totally blown away by the gorgeous, shiny gold dust jacket, I thought – what the…? 20 years?? surely not! But then I stopped and realised that The Kid was five years old when the movie came out, and she, along with her mum…

  • Hello Twigs series : Andrew McDonald/Ben Wood

    Hardie Grant Imprint: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing August 2023 RRP: $9.99 If you have the littles constantly wanting to borrow graphics, then this series will be a godsend to you. From the dynamic creative team that brought us The Real Pigeons, these new books tick a lot of boxes: develop reading skills, encourage a love…

  • The Monkey Who Fell from the Future – Ross Welford

    Harper Collins March 2023 A new Ross Welford novel is always a treat, and this is no exception. His time-travelling escapades are always full of adventure, tension and humour, and at the same time, they are thought-provoking. This one ticks all those boxes again. In 2425 the Earth is barely recognisable. It has, for the…

  • Monster Island – George Ivanoff

    Penguin Australia Soooooooo, take a little Jurassic Park, a pinch of Big Foot, a handful of Little Shop of Horrors, a smidgin of mad scientists, a scoop of Bass Strait Triangle [like the Bermuda one, but closer] and an actual drop bear, and stir vigorously with some George Ivanoff – and voila! the perfect, albeit…

  • Huda was Here – H. Hayek

    Allen & Unwin ISBN:9781761068430 Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $15.99 This is a really fun read but more than that, it’s a delightful look at family relationships and community interactions. When their dad loses his job as the neighbourhood security guard, Huda and Akeal set out on a campaign of mischief, with the goal of…

  • Two Dogs – Ian Falconer

    Harper Collins Australia November 2022 RRP: $24.99 Vale Ian Falconer. 25/08/1959 8/03/2023 I think it’s actually quite ironic that I had put off reviewing this charmingly hilarious book. The news of Falconer’s death two weeks ago came as quite a shock to many and we are all the poorer for it. You may not have…

  • Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: the junior novelization – Bernard Waber

    Harper Collins Australia September 2022 To be perfectly honest, until the trailers for the movie came out, I had never really heard of this series, although I think I’ve had at least one of the picture books (the original one?) in my collection at some point. Maybe because sometimes American children’s books are eclipsed, for…

  • Friday Barnes 11: Last Chance – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia Oh Friday, you just get betterer and betterer! Readers will remember my anecdote of the dismay felt by my coterie of Friday fans, when the ‘last’ in the (original) series was announced, and was confirmed by my (then) recent conversation with Rachel over afternoon tea. Subsequently – and by then in a different…

  • Lockwood & Co – Jonathan Stroud

    Penguin Australia Ten years ago I reviewed The Screaming Staircase and wrote: This new series from Jonathan Stroud is the first since the Bartimaeus Sequence which sold over six million copies, and was translated in over 35 languages. The fact that Universal Studios has already picked up the film rights to Lockwood & Co. is…