Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Toffle Towers #1: Fully Booked – Tim Harris/James Foley

    Penguin August 2019 ISBN: 9780143795421 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $14.99 Tim Harris, creator of the remarkable Mr Bambuckle, presents an equally daffy protagonist in this new series. Chegwin Toffle may be only ten years old but he is one very determined entrepreneur albeit prone to wild imaginings and daydreams. Chegwin is the sole beneficiary of his hitherto unknown great-uncle…

  • The Curse of the School Rabbit – Judith Kerr

    Harper Collins July 2019 ISBN: 9780008352608 ISBN 10: 0008352607 Imprint: HarperCollins Children’sBooks   The late Judith Kerr’s final book, like all her glorious work, is quintessentially English, gently humorous and full of everyday adventure and family life. When Snowball the school rabbit needs to be rabbit-sat for a time, Tommy’s little sister, Angie, is ecstatic. Tommy is less…

  • Stuck in the Mud: Peski Kids #3 – R. A. Spratt

      Penguin Random House August 2019 ISBN: 9780143796350 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 The Peski kids have certainly encountered some bizarre events since their arrival in the backwater town of Currawong but perhaps the annual town Mud Run is one of the most strange – to their minds at least. Added to this is the even more repugnant…

  • The Pinballs – Betsy Byars

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780062881786 ISBN 10: 0062881787 Imprint: HarperCollins – US July 2019 List Price: 16.99 AUD   Now in her 90s award-winning American author Betsy Byars first published The Pinballs in 1977. As I re-read this new edition I wondered if she thought that perhaps the fate of some children might improve over time. It seems that the…

  • Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid – Jeff Kinney

    Penguin Random House 9781760892517 April  2019 Puffin RRP: $14.99   After 13 Wimpy Kid books the series shows no signs of losing any popularity – kids from 8 to 15 are still lapping them up voraciously.  However, if such an unlikely event were to occur, Jeff Kinney has come up with a superb new twist…

  • Pirate Pug: The Dog who Rocked the Boat – Laura James/Eglantine Ceulemans

      Bloomsbury Australia February 2019 ISBN 9781408895948 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books Series: The Adventures of Pug RRP $12.99 This is the fourth in this hugely funny series for newly independent readers and just as hilarious as the earlier ones. Pug and his owner, Lady Miranda, seem to encounter all kinds of mischief and mishaps whenever…

  • Bad Nana #1: Older but Not Wiser – Sophy Henn

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780008268053 ISBN 10: 0008268053 Imprint: HarperCollins – GB June 2018 RRP $17.99 Newly independent readers who love a giggle are bound to fall in love with Bad Nana and her granddaughter, Jeanie. Of course Bad Nana isn’t really bad – but she is cheeky and unconventional, most definitely mischievous, and certainly the type of granny…

  • Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja – Kylie Howarth

        Walker Books ISBN: 9781760650810 Imprint: Walker Books Australia: February 1, 2019 Australian RRP: $14.99 New Zealand RRP: $16.99 If you have readers who love a good fun story with a bit of interesting information plus a smattering of a conservation message this will be a huge hit.  The first in a new series Kylie Howarth has set up…

  • Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables On the Lookout: #3 – Tim Harris

    9780143793144 February 5, 2019 Puffin RRP: $14.99   Even those who have not been privileged enough to sip Himalayan tea with Mr Bambuckle are completely taken with the adventures of his class 12B. The continual struggle to defeat the pressures put upon them by short-sighted school admin individuals and to foster each child blossoming into…

  • Treasure of the Golden Skull: Maudlin Towers #2 – Chris Priestley

    Bloomsbury December 2018 ISBN: 9781408873106 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP : $14.99 AU $16.99 NZ Readers return to the wacky world of Maudlin Towers with Mildew and Sponge as they attempt to save their mouldering school from closure, due to its pecuniary troubles. Ever since the funds for the renovations disappeared in time (see the…