Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • 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…

  • The Secret Commonwealth – Philip Pullman

    The Book of Dust Volume Two Published: 3 October 2019 ISBN: 9780241373347 Imprint: Penguin and David Fickling Books Format: Trade Paperback Pages: 784 RRP: $32.99 Surely one of the most highly anticipated sequels ever – or was that just me? (I don’t think so!) I wasn’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t this – and I mean that in a…

  • Kensy and Max #3: Undercover – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Random House 9780143791904 March 5, 2019 Random House Australia Children’s   $16.99 Jacqueline Harvey has done it again with another super episode in her cracking new series about the two intrepid twins, Kensington and Maxim aka Kensy and Max.  The children’s parents are still MiA but news of them is filtering through and they…

  • Truly Tan #7: Baffled – Jen Storer. Illustrated by Claire Robertson

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9780733334139 ISBN-10: 073333413X Series: Truly Tan October 2018 Imprint: ABC Books RRP $16.99 Can I just say I truly love Tan? Yes sirree, I do! Since the first one I ever read I found this series very appealing and loads of fun. There is a real trend for detective/mystery/spy stories for younger readers but they don’t…

  • Bear in the Woods: Peski Kids #2 – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin 9780143788836 January 8, 2019 Puffin   $!6.99 R. A. Spratt has been entertaining readers hugely for some time now with Nanny Piggins and Friday Barnes and now with her new series The Peski Kids which is every bit as funny and quirky as her others. In this second instalment the Peskis are doing their…

  • The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Provence (The Girl, the Dog and the Writer, Book 2) – Katrina Nannestad

    Harper Collins Australia ISBN: 9780733338182 ISBN 10: 0733338186 Imprint: ABC Books – AU October 2018 RRP: 16.99 AUD Young Freja, sensitive and intelligent, along with the hairy hound Finnegan and eccentric crime writer Tobby have left Rome to go to the picturesque village of Claviers in Provence, where it just happens their beautiful friend Vivi has also moved to…

  • Ariki and the Giant Shark – Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Nicola Kinnear.

    Walker Books Australia July 2018 ISBN: 9781406369793 Imprint: Walker Australian RRP: $12.99 New Zealand RRP: $14.99 It can be difficult to find fiction that focuses on the Pacific/Polynesian cultures particularly for younger readers but this first book in a new series promises to be rich material for this aspect of HASS as well as being an entertaining mystery/adventure. Ariki…

  • The City of Guardian Stones – Jacob Sager Weinstein

    Walker Books Australia ISBN: 9781406368864 Imprint: Walker Release Date: November 1, 2018 Australian RRP: $16.99 New Zealand RRP: $18.99 In the first of the trilogy The City of Secret Rivers Hyacinth Hayward managed to thwart the plot to control the magical powers of the underground waters of London and also gain some inkling about her family’s role as protectors of…

  • His Name was Walter – Emily Rodda

    Harper Collins ISBN: 9781460756188 ISBN 10: 1460756185 Imprint: HarperCollins – AU On Sale: 23/07/2018 List Price: 22.99 AUD Oh my gosh!   Yes, of course there will be more to say but really this book was so incredible it really did almost leave me speechless. Just when I think Emily Rodda cannot get any better (I mean, I just loved…

  • Wundersmith : The Calling of Morrigan Crow : Nevermoor 2– Jessica Townsend

    Hachette OCT 30, 2018 | 9780734418227 | RRP $16.99 Imprint: Lothian Books Morrigan is back! The eagerly anticipated second instalment of Nevermoor is no disappointment and the many readers who are bursting at the seams waiting to get their hands on a copy will be delighted. Now that Morrigan has passed her trials she becomes part of Unit 919…