Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Peculiar Parents- Stephanie Owen Reeder. Illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak.

    National Library of Australia 9781922507822 / 1 July 2025 / AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 One thing is a given. A book from Stephanie Owen Reeder will always be exceptional and I, for one, have been very much looking forward to this one. And just wait till you see it! On a gloomy weekend such as this one (as I write this)…

  • Dog Beach – Julie Murphy. Illustrated by Annie White

    New South Books NLA Publishing November 2024 9781922507709/ AUD$24.99, NZD$29.99 What a happy and full-of-warmth book this is! We know to expect entertaining animal stories from Julie Murphy, and we also know we can count on some information as well. This one does not disappoint. With some lovely rhyming descriptors of the many and varied dogs…

  • Marion and the Forty Thieves – Sarah Luke

    NLA July 2024 I grew up in Sydney and I was a kid with a thirst for history, particularly of my home town. I loved my excursions to the Rocks and being taken into the city on outings with my father, also a history tragic. Yet I knew nothing of the reformatories set up for…

  • Flora: Australia’s Most Curious Plants – Tania McCartney

    National Library of Australia October 2024 9781922507716 /AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 Try some Flora puzzles! Watch a Waratah bloom via Tania’s skills I have watched the development of this stunning companion to Fauna for months now and have eagerly anticipated its arrival. And how very beautiful it is – of course! With the meticulous attention to detail we…

  • Ayla’s Christmas Wish – Pamela Jones. Lucia Masciullo

    NLA November 2023 ISBN: 9781922507617 RRP: $24.99 What a lovely lead into Christmas in Australia this new book is! Inspired by the now well-known Tarrington Hay Bale Art Comp, initiated in 2009 by Lutheran pastor,  Colin Huf in his bid to promote the tiny township, this picture book juxtaposes traditional European style Christmas icons with our…

  • The Bird Art of William T. Cooper – Wendy Cooper

    National Library of Australia October 2023 ISBN:9781922507600 RRP: $64.99 So the lovely field guide to neighourhood birds which I reviewed during the past week, is compact and just the right size for a backpack or even a large pocker – as is befitting for its purpose. This magnificent book is of the big, bold and…

  • Phonobet – Kathy Weeden & Kim Drane

    NLA June 2023 Publisher:   National Library of AustraliaISBN: 9781922507471 RRP: $24.99 If you’re looking for a book to aid in teaching phonics in a primary/early years setting, whether school-based or home-learning, this could be a useful resource for you. Created by Canberra educator, Kathy Weeden, as an adjunct to learning the alphabet by exploring the…

  • This is Home: Essential Australian Poems for Children – Selected by Jackie French, Illustrated by Tania McCartney

    Publisher:   National Library of Australia ISBN:   9780642279385 01 April 2019 RRP: $34.99 Why yes, some readers of this blog will already know that not only am I non-fiction nerd since childhood but also a poetry nerd. I openly admit this to the children at school who are sometimes a little (?!) resistant to poetry. Of course,…

  • Digby & Claude – Emma Allen & Hannah Sommerville

    Publisher:   National Library of Australia Edition:   1st Edition ISBN:   9780642279279 Publication Date:   01 August 2018 RRP $24.99 When Emma Allen read an old newspaper article about ‘family friendly’ flats being built in Erskineville back in the 1930s she was inspired to create a picture book which reflected not only a child’s appreciation of their own place…