Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Peski Kids: Near Extinction #4 – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Australia January 2020 ISBN: 9780143796367 Imprint: Puffin Format: Paperback RRP: $16.99 Readers may rest assured that this latest episode in The Peski Kids once again passes the snort-laugh test with flying colours. There is something truly inspired about these completely kooky characters. This new instalment opens with the reluctant wedding of Dad and the intimidating Ingrid but is…

  • Stuck in the Mud: Peski Kids #3 – R. A. Spratt

      Penguin Random House August 2019 ISBN: 9780143796350 Imprint: Puffin RRP: $16.99 The Peski kids have certainly encountered some bizarre events since their arrival in the backwater town of Currawong but perhaps the annual town Mud Run is one of the most strange – to their minds at least. Added to this is the even more repugnant…

  • 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…

  • Total Quack Up- Edited by Sally Rippin and Adrian Beck. Illustrated by James Foley

    Penguin Random House 9780143794905 October 15, 2018 Puffin RRP $14.99   Here’s another super choice for the kid who loves humour – and again, very timely with Christmas rushing in upon us.   The cream of our Australian children’s writers have contributed a wealth of funny stories: Deborah Abela, Tristan Bancks, Adrian Beck, Jacqueline Harvey,…

  • The Peski Kids #1: The Mystery of the Squashed Cockroach – R. A. Spratt

    Penguin Random House 9780143788812 July 30, 2018 Puffin   $16.99   There were many sad faces in my library when I reported that the Friday Barnes series had come to an end (including mine) but there was the consolation that R. A. Spratt was working on a new series. And here it is! And it’s…

  • Triple Treat: Jacqueline Harvey, Belinda Murrell and R. A. Spratt

      Such fun to open parcels with books from the most popular authors in my library – and my literary circle! The titles from this trio are highly sought after among my readers and there is always much exchanging in the returns line up with ‘She had this but I want to borrow it next’.…

  • Friday Barnes #5 The Plot Thickens – R. A. Spratt

    9780857989932 August 1, 2016 Random House Australia Children’s   RRP $15.99 I have some readers who have been driving us mad in the library waiting and waiting on a new Friday Barnes fix – and here it is! Friday’s at her best solving mysteries, uncovering truth, being a complete dork and antagonising people in this…

  • Friday Barnes: #4 No Rules – R. A. Spratt

    ISBN: 9780857987013 Published: 04/01/2016 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s RRP – $15.99 The increasingly popular nerdy detective, Friday Barnes, makes her fourth appearance in this latest instalment filled with even more mayhem and mysteries. To begin with Friday is rather surprisingly deported to Switzerland for lack of proper citizenship documents. Not surprisingly this is because her irritatingly vague…

  • Friday Barnes #3: Big Trouble – R. A. Spratt

    ISBN: 9780857986993 Published: 03/08/2015 Imprint: Random House Australia Children’s Extent: 272 pages RRP $15.99 Ace amateur super sleuth Friday Barnes just gets busier and busier! In the third of the series, young Friday finds a perfect swarm of mysterious goings on at Highcrest Academy. Firstly, there is the unexpected visit from her absentminded father when he brings the dreadful…