Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • The Fire Wombat – Jackie French. Illustrated by Danny Snell.

    Harper Collins Australia October 2020 ISBN: 9781460759332 ISBN 10: 1460759338 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 19.99 AUD A year ago Australia was gripped by the raging fires that were sweeping through so many areas with ferocity causing so much devastation in their wake that the whole world was gasping as the scenes were broadcast. According to sources the…

  • The Angel of Waterloo – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia December 2020 ISBN: 9781460757918 ISBN 10: 1460757912 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 29.99 AUD In actual fact, I read the proof copy of this at the start of the term – hungrily devouring each page with intensity – as I do with every single one of Jackie’s books, particularly her historical fiction. All those who…

  • The Schoolmaster’s Daughter – Jackie French

    The Schoolmaster’s Daughter – Jackie French Harper Collins Australia May 2020 ISBN: 9781460757710 ISBN 10: 1460757718 RRP: $17.99 We know so well Jackie’s passion for and skill with historical fiction and when she combines it, as she has with this new novel, with her own family history the result is even more sensational. Australia at the point…

  • Lilies, Lies and Love (Book #4 Miss Lily) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia March 2020 ISBN: 9781460754986 ISBN 10: 1460754980 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 29.99 AUD When this arrived (and after all, I’d only been waiting for it impatiently since the moment of finishing book #3) I told myself I would not gobble it up like a kid eating lollies. *Laughs hysterically* As if! Three nights later…..…

  • The Ghost of Howler’s Beach (The Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1)  – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia February 2020 ISBN: 9781460757727 ISBN 10: 1460757726 List Price: 16.99 AUD   To most folks Butter O’Bryan would seem a lucky boy.  In a time when many people are destitute and homeless he lives in a large and comfortable house, known as the Very Small Castle, he has three eccentric but loving aunts –  known…

  • Dippy and the Dinosaurs (Dippy the Diprotodon, #2) – Jackie French & Bruce Whatley. Concept by Ben Smith Whatley.

    Harper Collins Australia February 2020 ISBN: 9781460754092 ISBN 10: 1460754093 RRP 24.99 AUD We’ve all been in love with Jackie’s wombats for years and now she and Bruce Whatley have provided us with another fabulous ‘wombat’ character to cherish.  Dippy made his first appearance last year and thoroughly delighted all his young readers. This BIG boisterous and…

  • Top Koala – Jackie French. Illustrated by Matt Shanks

    HarperCollins Australia November 2011 ISBN: 9781460754818 ISBN 10: 1460754816 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 24.99 AUD Following the huge success of Koala Bare this favourite furry friend returns with enough self-confidence to power the whole country! I am top of every tree! Top is always best to be. With the terrible outcome of bushfires and the dire predicament…

  • All of Us [a history of SouthEast Asia] – Jackie French and Virginia Hooker. Illustrated by Mark Wilson

    Harper Collins October 2019 ISBN: 9781460750025 ISBN 10: 1460750020 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 29.99 AU Is it a history book? Poetry? A work of art? Geographical work? Actually it’s pretty much all of these wrapped up in one stunning picture book. The incomparable Jackie French teams up with Emeritus Professor Virginia Hooker, social historian, to take readers…

  • Clancy of the Overflow (The Matilda Saga #9) – Jackie French

    Harper Collins October 2019 ISBN: 9781460754771 ISBN 10: 1460754778 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU List Price: 29.99 AUD This little hobby of mine has brought me so much richness. I’m able to read the newest titles from so many fabulous creators. But as you probably have realised I stand in complete awe of our maven of literature for children, teens…

  • To the Moon and Back – Bryan Sullivan with Jackie French

    Harper Collins May 2019 ISBN: 9781460757741 ISBN 10: 1460757742 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU RRP 16.99 AUD In our library we marked the 50th anniversary of the moon landing before the holidays and I was quite taken aback to find that not only did we not have a copy of this 2005 winner of the Eve Pownall Award but that…