Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 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…

  • Pony – R. J. Palacio

    My review of this utterly fabulous book is now live at Kids Book Review – check it out and make sure you get a copy – you won’t be sorry!

  • Alice-Miranda in Egypt [Alice-Miranda #20] – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia  June 2021 ISBN: 9781760891046 Imprint: Puffin Format: Paperback Pages: 416 RRP: $16.99 Put it on your ‘new books’ display and stand well back because the danger of stampede is very real! Twenty books on and everyone’s favourite little schoolgirl is still guaranteed to excite your readers – and not just your junior readers either. I know several older…

  • The Valley of Lost Secrets – Lesley Parr

    Bloomsbury Australia February 2021 ISBN: 9781526620521 Imprint: Bloomsbury Children’s Books RRP: $14.99 Omg, I can’t tell you how much I loved this read during the week!! It completely reminds me of two much-loved favourites, Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden and Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian (both of which I own and have re-read many…

  • A Case of Grave Danger: The Violet Veil Mysteries #1 – Sophie Cleverly

    Harper Collins Australia Published: 3rd February 2021Publisher: HarperCollins PublishersCountry of Publication: GB ISBN: 9780008297350ISBN-10: 0008297355 RRP: $16.99 Sophie Cleverly’s Scarlet and Ivy series is one of the most popular in my library, particularly with our Year 7 and 8 girls and they are already madly excited to hear about this new series, and counting down until they can pounce on…

  • The Cousins – Karen M. McManus

    Penguin Australia December 2020 ISBN: 9780241376942 Imprint: Penguin RRP: $17.99 Attention all of you who loved One of Us is Lying! This YA thriller will get you and your readers in from the first page. I literally ate it up over just a couple of nights. Three cousins all the same age who barely know each other, having…

  • The Fire Star: A Maven & Reeve Mystery- A. L. Tait

    Penguin Australia September 2020 ISBN: 9781760897079 Imprint: Penguin RRP: $16.99 Well-known globally for her adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, A. L. Tait brings another entertaining and engaging series to middle years readers with the introduction of Maven and Reeve. Maven, youngest daughter of an impoverished and dispossessed noble family, is companion and maid to…

  • Moonflower Murders – Anthony Horowitz

    Penguin Australia August 2020 ISBN: 9781529124354 Imprint: Century RRP: $32.99 The Master triumphs again! Mind-bendingly clever and tricky, Horowitz has once again presented his readers with two devilishly complicated mysteries – once again a book within a book! I can only imagine how difficult it is to construct one complex murder mystery let alone two at the same…

  • The Unadoptables

    Hana Tooke Penguin Australia July 2020 ISBN: 9780241453612 Imprint: Puffin RRP $16.99 There is something about stories set in Holland that I find particularly appealing. Perhaps it is just the vicarious sight-seeing but for some reason they are always engaging and often quirky. This one is no exception. Combining adventure and mystery, family life, loyalty and very…

  • The Key to Finding Jack – Ewa Jozefkowicz

    Harper Collins Australia May 2020 ISBN: 9781800240421 ISBN 10: 1800240422 Imprint: Head Of Zeus – Zehpyr – GB $14.99 Perfect for your middle primary to lower secondary kiddos this new adventure/mystery is just a great read with lots of excitement but also loads of great messages about the importance of connections with family and friends, self-belief, empathy and…