Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • The Magical Bookshop – Katja Frixe. Illustrated by Florentine Prechtel. Translated by Ruth Ahmedzal Kemp.

    Bloomsbury September 2021 Imprint: OneWorld ISBN: 9781786075666 RRP: $14.99 Such a sweet and happy book this is! Translated from the German with great dexterity while retaining just the right amount of that quirkiness of expression that European children’s books often have, this is just a delight from start to finish. Mrs Owl’s bookshop is full…

  • 7 Steps to Get Your Child Reading – Louise Park

      Allen & Unwin February 2020 ISBN 9781760524678 RRP $24.99 Au Louise Park is not only a highly regarded writer of over 250 books including popular series, with a career spanning 30 years, but also a recognised literacy expert and educational consultant with a passion for supporting Indigenous children, ESL students and at-risk learners. Now…

  • Hooray for Book Week!

      We wear ourselves out getting ready for it – with planning over months and are thoroughly but satisfyingly over it by the time it’s done and yet we wait impatiently for the next year’s theme so we can do it all over again! Our preparations have been underway for weeks and our library looks…

  • Pages & Co : Tilly and the  Bookwanderers –Anna James

      Harper Collins ISBN: 9780008229887 ISBN 10: 0008229880 Imprint: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks On Sale: 18/09/2018 List Price: 9.99 AUD Ever since Tilly’s mum disappeared when she was tiny, her home has been with her Grandma and Grandpa in their house/bookshop Pages & Co. Inevitably, given that circumstance, Tilly is the ultimate bookworm and constantly loses herself deep in a book, particularly her…

  • Piggy – Trevor Lai

    Allen & Unwin ISBN: 9781681190655 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Imprint: BLM Children’s USA  January 2017 RRP $19.00   What’s not to love about a cute little pig who loves to read so much that he’s never made any friends?  Piggy has always been so immersed in his books and the library that it is almost a…

  • Six lessons on young adults’ literature from a 13-year-old

      To publishers, there are two kinds of young readers: children, and young adults. But in that extremely fluid period between 12 and 18, it is probably necessary to further separate young young adult readers from the the now-legendary YA segment. Welcome, then, to YYA readers. Whose brains and bodies are both changing furiously almost…