Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Bedtime Stories – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia August 2023 It is a well-known fact in my circle, that R. A. Spratt habitually makes me snort-laugh. So I really had to prepare myself (and The Kid) for random outbursts of bizarre guffawing as I enjoyed my way through this gargantuan offering. There is something to please everyone here. Although, for me,…

  • The Daring Tale of Gloria the Great – Jacqueline Harvey. Illustrated by Kate Isobel Scott.

    Penguin Australia August 2023 I say it often, I miss my chookies (and there have been quite a few at numerous times over the years). Chooks have such personalities, and some of mine definitely did. Just such a hen is Gloria – indomitable, resilient and tenacious. She is her own chicken in every sense. In…

  • A Friend for George – Gabriel Evans

    Penguin Australia May 2023 Anyone who has taught or worked with children will probably agree that we can never have enough books about friendship, and in particular, how to be a good friend. Once I probably would have said this is most true of the younger grades but realistically, more and more, I see kids…

  • Scar Town Book Launch

    What a terrific way to spend an evening! Catching up with Tristan Bancks after a few years, also seeing Deborah Abela again, for the official Brisbane launch of Scar Town, at Where the Wild Things Are. The Kid came along as well and it was a hugely enjoyable presentation. Isobelle Carmody was also in the…

  • Feathered Philosophy…

    It was quite a curious thing that on Friday, I chose two books from my review shelf to share with a Year 1 class I was taking, and they both complemented each other so perfectly. One I chose because I knew how well it is always received, the other because the title made me giggle.…

  • My Family Kitchen- Tommy Pham

    Penguin Australia July 2023 Ok, I freely admit it. I’m one of those tragics who loves looking at beautiful cookbooks without necessarily making any of the dishes – but there are exceptions to that. This is truly a very beautiful cookbook with loads of colour pages, with, also, full page colour photographs to accompany each…

  • Being Jimmy Baxter – Fiona Lloyd

    Penguin Australia This is often a very funny book. This is often a very moving book. I ate it up in one sitting because Jimmy’s story is one that demands to be read. Jimmy is not so good with school stuff, and he has a kind of innocence in his thinking that completely reminds me…

  • For the Tiny Humans

    Find Spot: an Australian Adventure Penguin Australia July 2023 Your littlest people will love this colourful new board book with a fresh Spot adventure, especially as it’s set in Australia. Mum, Dad and Spot are camping and as they explore billabong and surrounds, they encounter some lovely Australian wildlife like an echidna, thorny devil, bats…

  • Scar Town – Tristan Bancks

    Penguin Australia August 2023 I’ve been a fan of Tristan’s work since back in the Mac Slater days, especially after attending one of his presentations on making book trailers (can’t even remember which event that was, it was so long ago!) and I’ve particularly loved his ‘crime/thriller’ books – like a series that’s not, if…

  • Hamlet is Not OK – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia July 2023 No one will be surprised to hear that after reading a couple of chapters before I went to sleep last night, I gobbled the rest up in one sitting today – and loved every single word! It’s not Friday Barnes, nor Nanny Piggins but Spratt’s sass and sarcasm, her unerring sense…