Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting – Michelle Robinson/David Roberts

    Published: March 2016 ISBN: 9781681190266 Imprint: Bloomsbury USA Childrens RRP $22.99 We all know that kids love offbeat humour and this is certainly a book that will tick that box. Bear spotting is a tricky business so if you’re going searching you need to be prepared with all the information required.   For example did…

  • Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket – Caleb Krisp/illustrated by John Kelly

    ISBN:9781408858677 Publisher:Bloomsbury Imprint:Bloomsbury Child June 2016 RRP $14.99 That irritating and insufferable Ivy, Child Blunder extraordinaire, is back with another hair and eyebrow raising adventure. Half dead and now living with a sinister and secretive pair of undertakers who purport to be her new ‘parents’, Ivy is on a mission to save her dead friend…

  • Stanley the Amazing Knitting Cat – Emily McKenzie

    Category:Picture books ISBN:9781408860489 Allen & Unwin Publisher:Bloomsbury Imprint:Bloomsbury Child Pub Date:February 2016 RRP $15.99 Stanley is most definitely not your average moggy. He doesn’t do any of the usual cattish things like chasing mice or having hassles with dogs.  He’s not even lazing around sleeping in the sun all day. In fact, he’s always busy…

  • Middle School: Going Bush –James Patterson

    ISBN: 9780143781219 Published: 01/03/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP $15.99 Rafe can’t be more excited. He’s been selected to join a very special Young Artists group along with a very select few youngsters from around the world. They are all to meet up in Australia and take part in an extraordinary all-expenses paid experience investigating ancient Indigenous…

  • Izzy the Invisible – Louise Gray, illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson

    Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN: 9781848125094 Publisher: Bonnier Imprint: Piccadilly Books Pub Date: March 2016 RRP $14.99   Just imagine if you could be invisible whenever you like – most children would love this! This new story which is perfect for beginning independent readers comes from a mystery author so to speak. The publisher’s notes…

  • Pugly Bakes a Cake – Pamela Butchart, illustrated by Gemma Correll

        ISBN: 9780857635990 Publisher: Nosy Crow Imprint: Nosy Crow Pub Date: March 2016   I guess we all know that pugs are pretty cute (and pretty fashionable) right now. If I hadn’t got a toy poodle myself I probably would have got a pug – although my eccentric teaching colleague who had a wardrobe…

  • Anyone But Ivy Pocket – Caleb Krisp

      t  Allen & Unwin Australia Category:Children’s fiction ISBN:9781408858646 Publisher:Bloomsbury Imprint:Bloomsbury Child Pub Date:February 2016 RRP $12.99   Caleb Krisp’s author bio from the publisher’s website should give you a pretty clear indication of the type of story to expect in this new series:   Caleb Krisp was raised by militant librarians who fed him…

  • Be Frank With Me – Julia Claiborne Johnson

    Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN:9781782399179 Publisher:Atlantic Imprint:Corvus Pub Date:February 2016 RRP $27.99 As  you know, I don’t seem to get around to reading grown up books often but there was something about the blurb for this one that begged me to read and review it. Thank you thank you A&U for allowing me the unmitigated…

  • Friday Barnes: #4 No Rules – R. A. Spratt

    ISBN: 9780857987013 Published: 04/01/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP – $15.99 The increasingly popular nerdy detective, Friday Barnes, makes her fourth appearance in this latest instalment filled with even more mayhem and mysteries. To begin with Friday is rather surprisingly deported to Switzerland for lack of proper citizenship documents. Not surprisingly this is because her irritatingly vague…

  • Awesome Animal Stories for Kids – Aleesah Darlison

    ISBN: 9780857989680 Published: 01/12/2015 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s Extent: 208 pages – RRP $14.99 One thing we know as teacher-librarians is that you can never have too many animal stories. Younger readers especially eat up such tales whether crazy, realistic, whimsical or humorous. This new collection from Aleesah Darlison covers all those bases and with a text that…