Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Alice-Miranda and the Christmas Mystery – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Random House October 2023 It has been a while since we’ve had the pleasure of a new Alice-Miranda story, understandably as Jacqueline has been busy with other projects (successfully so I might add!!), and we all know that the A-M fans, young and old (yes, Tiarna G, I am looking at you!) are going…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy [40th Anniversary] – Lynley Dodd

    Penguin Australia The real problem with these anniversary editions of our favourite books is that it always makes me feel incredibly old 😫 but, of course, at the same they always bring back so many happy memories of read-alouds for my own girls and grandies, as well as the many kiddos over a long teacher-librarian…

  • Willa and Woof #5: Let the Games Begin! – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia July 2023 Adorable Willa is back in a new adventure which will again resonate with her young fans. Willa is very excited, though incredibly nervous, about her upcoming very first ‘real’ gymnastics competition. Her anxiety is not helped by her nemesis Evie’s constant jibes and taunts. Along with her team, she has been…

  • Monster Island – George Ivanoff

    Penguin Australia Soooooooo, take a little Jurassic Park, a pinch of Big Foot, a handful of Little Shop of Horrors, a smidgin of mad scientists, a scoop of Bass Strait Triangle [like the Bermuda one, but closer] and an actual drop bear, and stir vigorously with some George Ivanoff – and voila! the perfect, albeit…

  • Kensy and Max #10: Time’s Up – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia Fasten your seatbelts for one last rollercoaster ride with the intrepid twin spies, in their most difficult and worrying adventure/mission yet! When their closest family members begin disappearing – apparently kidnapped – the twins become increasingly isolated and anxious. With no ransom notes or other explanations, the snatching of their relatives seems completely…

  • All Four Quarters of the Moon – Shirley Marr

    Penguin Australia July 2022 On the last day of her old life, Peijing makes moon cakes with Ah Ma for the Autumn Festival. The following Peijing and her family, Ba Ba, Ma Ma, little sister Biju and Ah Ma, move to Australia and their new lives begin. Moving house is always a time of upheaval…