Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Pirates of Darksea – Catherine Doyle

    Bloomsbury Australia June 2024 ISBN 9781526655103 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $16.99 I fell in love with Catherine Doyle’s writing with The Stormkeeper trilogy and when the ARC arrived for this – many months ago- I devoured it with just as much enthusiasm – and this review has been scheduled since then!! This is an…

  • The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast: Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters #3 – Karen Foxlee. Illustrated by Freda Chiu.

    Allen & Unwin January 2024 ISBN:9781761470226 RRP: $15.99 Imprint:A & U Children Awards: For one reason or another, I had not yet been introduced to Mary-Kate but that really didn’t preclude any enjoyment of this fun adventure. She comes from a long line of monster hunters – not the kind that want to get rid…

  • Mermedusa – Thomas Taylor

    Walker Books Book 5 of An Eerie-on-Sea Mystery Series September 2023 ISBN13: 9781529502138 Australia RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 When you’ve loved every minute of a series, it’s hard to say goodbye to it. So it is that in reading this fifth and final in the wonderful Eerie-on-Sea sequence, I tried hard to make it…

  • The Boy Who Hatched Monsters- T. C. Shelley

    Bloomsbury Publishing March 2022 ISBN 9781526600790 Imprint Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $14.99 Sam, half monster/half fairy, has not only that secret to keep but many others. For example, there’s the one about his pack – the gargoyles who protect him, and the one about his school friends, the shape shifters who can change into dogs…

  • Shadowghast – Thomas Taylor

    Walker Books Australia September 2021 ISBN: 9781406386301Imprint: WalkerAustralian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 It’s back to Eerie-on-Sea for another cracking and creepy mystery. In this new adventure a seriously spooky magician arrives in town, accompanied by henchmen, and purports to be Herbie’s long-lost aunt. She seems to enthrall the boy but his friend and ally, Violet, is far from…

  • The Werewolves who Weren’t – T. C. Shelley

    You can read my review of this fabulous second instalment in this series at Kids Book Review now!

  • Ten Minutes to Bed: …. Rhiannon Fielding/Chris Chatterton

    Penguin Random House Australia There would not be many parents (or grandparents/carers) who haven’t had to coax a small one to bed at some time and if that’s you right now this little series which has been brought to my attention would be a perfect shared read to give that heads up that it’s sleep…

  • Malamander – Thomas Taylor

    Walker Books Australia   ISBN: 9781406386288 May 2019 Australian RRP: $17.99 New Zealand RRP: $19.99 Ok, so I’m a bit slow getting to this one (cue: moving house etc) but it is one not to be missed. Two orphans are brought together in the Grand Nautilus Hotel in a slightly odd town known as Eerie-on-Sea. Herbert Lemon is…

  • Monster Party – The Children from Rawa with Alison Lester & Jane Godwin

    Magabala Books September 2018 ISBN:9781925360554 RRP: $17.99 Described by the publisher as an ‘explosion of fun and pure joy’ this is a delightfully riotous and exuberant picture book full of colour and humour. The Rawa Community School is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert and the children there helped to write the text…

  • Dragon Apocalypse: City of Monsters #3 – DC Green

    Sep 2018 Ford Street Publishing 9781925272680 AUD$19.95, NZD$24.99   DC, you have completely smashed it with this thrilling conclusion to the trilogy – darker, edgier and gripping!  I’ve watched with such joy as the Dead Gang monster misfits have grown from their funky beginnings to truly kickass warriors united in their mission to save not…

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