Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • The Tinysaurs – Sally Odgers. Adele K. Thomas

    Scholastic Australia February 2026 9781761528576 RRP: $16.99 Cute poster for your library or just for fun All your Smalls who have adored Pearl and friends, are going to lap this up like a cat with a saucer of cream. It’s cute and it’s colourful and it’s really cleverly engaging with a twist on many ideas.…

  • Which Way to the Future – Cressida Cowell

    Hachette Australia Oct 2025 | 9781444982398 | RRP $22.99 Preorder the P/B: Apr 7, 2026 | 9781444979435 | RRP $17.99 SO much fun to be back with the most famous starwalker, bounty hunter and Story Maker, Horizabel the Grimm, along with O’Hero-Smith children for another intergalactic, totally bonkers adventure. Cressida Cowell’s Which Way series is every bit as exciting, dramatic, crazy and fun…

  • A Hatful of Dreams – Bob Graham

    Walker Books Australia September 2025 ISBN13:9781529525861 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 When, I ask you, have you ever been disappointed by a Bob Graham book? Never is my answer and this new one is every bit as charming, heartfelt and warm as so many of his others. In a street full of tired, empty houses…

  • Koala Fairies – Anna Pignataro

    Scholastic Australia September 2025 ISBN:9781761123849 RRP: $19.99 It really could be set right here at the end of our street – where bush meets the sea and there are native animals sheltering in quiet spots. Cute little friends, Cookie and Clover, are a pair of helpful koalas who do their best to care for their…

  • Gloam – Jack MacKay

    Bloomsbury September 2025 Imprint: Oneworld ISBN: 9780861549528 RRP: $16.99 Sometimes a debut novel comes along that completely blows you away, and this would be one of those. I’m not a fan of horror, but I don’t mind a bit of creepy – this was actually quite a lot of creepy! and an enormously good read.…

  • Happy Anniversary Tashi!! Tashi 30th Anniversary Edition – Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg, Kim Gamble

    Allen & Unwin July 2025 ISBN:9781761181450 Publisher: &U Children’s Imprint: A & U Children Thirty years and over 100 millions of sales on, Tashi is every bit as entertaining, clever, funny and brave as he ever was. I can still recall how enchanted I was on first meeting him, and knowing that the kiddos in…

  • The Silken Thread – Gabrielle Wang

    Penguin Australia July 2025 This beautiful new novel from former Laureaute and multi-award winner, Gabrielle Wang, is an absolutely outstanding, and almost mystical, exploration of East meets West. It is not a time-slip but rather a shift in the universe, from Chongming Island in China to Melbourne, Australia, with two very different young people crossing…

  • Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo – Phillipa Leathley

    Harper Collins Australia January 2025 While it took me a while to get to this on the review shelf, and then it’s taken me a few weeks to get the review written, it only took me two sessions to actually read this completely enthralling and wildly different fantasy. Meticulous – Metty – Jones, like most…

  • Are you ready for Silverborn?

    Just a few weeks ago, I re-read all the books, in preparation for #4’s release- at last!! and today this sumptous box arrived. Like a Xmas present only betterer. So I’m re-posting my original reviews for your delectation. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Jessica Townsend Hachette October 2017 When you receive a proof copy…

  • The Chronicles of Wetherwhy: the Age of Enchantment – Anna James

    Harper Collins September 2024 After the roaring success of her Pages & Co series, Anna James has kicked off an engaging new series with which I am already wholly engaged, as I’m sure will be your readers. Everyone in Whetherwhy has magic, to a greater or lesser extent. And each person’s magic is connected to…