Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Adventures of Alfie Onion – Vivian French: illustrated by Matra Kissi

          Walker Books   Imprint: WALKER PAPERBACK   ISBN: 9781406363104 Published: 05 May 2016 Price: $14.99   Fractured fairytales are a popular writing task in many schools. In the past week the secondary girls in my ‘home’ school are writing them and in one of the local primaries in which I did a supply…

  • Amped! Carving it up with DC Green – a blog Q&A that’s choka!

    Ohmigosh! Q&A with the wonderful DC Green – grommet, writer, entertainer, cat-herder, friend, guy with panache…………..and all round Good Guy. Tell us about the young DC – what were you like as a kid, what did you like doing, where you grew up, how naughty you were? Young DC would be devastated to learn that…

  • So Wrong – Michael Wagner and Wayne Bryant

      Billy Goat Books August 2016 ISBN 9780994251756 RRP $14.99   Having a problem reaching those reluctant readers? Well I guess we all have at times. So how to solve the problem is the question. Put a fiendishly naughty author and illustrator together and watch them create what can only be described as outrageously subversive…

  • Marge in Charge Isla Fisher, illustrated by Eglantine Ceulemans

      Allen & Unwin Australia ISBN 9781848125339 Publisher:Bonnier Imprint:Piccadilly Books Pub Date:August 2016 RRP $14.99 Comedian, actress, mother and now author, Isla Fisher takes domestic anarchy to a new level with these stories about a baby sitter who is definitely not average. Jemima and Jake do not want a new babysitter. They especially don’t want…

  • (Axel Scheffler’s) Flip Flap Pets – Axel Scheffler

    July 2016 Allen & Unwin Imprint: Nosy Crow ISBN 9780857636805 RRP $ 15.99 Flip flap books have always been popular with kids as they make all kinds of crazy combinations. I knew this one was going to be a sure fire winner at our house for sure because we are the household with the menagerie.…

  • A Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals – Lucy Ruth Cummins

    Simon & Schuster Atheneum Books for Young Readers | 40 pages | ISBN 9781471147074 May 2016   There once was a hungry lion, a penguin (Well he was just here…), a little calico kitten (I could have sworn I just saw him…), a brown mouse (Now wait a second…), a bunny with floppy ears and…

  • Princess Betony and the Hobgoblin – Pamela Freeman/illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie

    ISBN: 9781921720260 Imprint: WALKER BOOKS AUST July 2016 RRP $12.99 This is a series new to me (thank you so much to Walker Books for adding me to your reviewer list!!) and I think it is just delightful judging by this one. Princess Betony is not exactly your average princess. She doesn’t much like wearing fussy dresses…

  • Jacky Ha-Ha – James Patterson, with Chris Grabenstein

    Random House Australia ISBN: 9781784754075 Published: 16/05/2016 Imprint: Arrow (Young)   RRP $15.99   The Middle School series from the James Patterson stable has been terrifically popular and as JP’s new character is introduced I foresee another avalanche of young readers. Since Jacky Hart first started school and had unkind kids make fun of her stuttering start (hence…

  • The Truth According to Arthur: a funny book about fibbing –  Tim Hopgood/David Tazzyman

    Allen & Unwin July 2016 ISBN 9781408864999 Publisher:Bloomsbury Imprint:Bloomsbury Child RRP $14.99   A perfect book for a read-aloud that will gently point out that lying is not just a no-no but will also lead to a great discussion on ethics for young readers. Arthur breaks a rule. He is not to ride his brother’s…

  • Popcorn Movie Time: The BFG

    Last night we were fortunate enough – myself & Small, her little cousin The Divine Miss M and her BFF – to attend a preview 3D screening of Spielberg’s The BFG. Some reviews have claimed it didn’t translate well and if anything was ‘too faithful’ to Roald Dahl’s much-loved novel. I don’t need to explain…