Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Miss Penny Dreadful & the Midnight Kittens – Allison Rushby

    Walker Books Australia August 2022 ISBN: 9781760654030 RRP: $15.99 Allison Rushby‘s delightful new book brings together a host of currently popular themes but presented for your lower primary readers. In the vein of Enola Holmes or Rose Ravensthorpe, this tricky mystery combines all the charm of Victorian quirkiness with strong female characters who possess both boldness…

  • The Wearing of the Green – Claire Saxby

    Walker Books April 2022 ISBN: 9781760653583Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $18.99New Zealand RRP: $21.99 It is certainly no secret that I love historical fiction, and colonial Australian history is a particular favourite of mine. I loved this exciting new narrative from Claire Saxby – whose prowess with picture books is already so well established. Set just two years before…

  • Pearly and Pig and the Great Hairy Beast – Sue Whiting

    Walker Books Australia March 2022 ISBN: 9781760653590Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $15.99 This is quite simply, really good fun! For some reason, it put me very much in mind of the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons (which those elderly people such as myself will recall) especially with the almost absurd characters and situations. Pearly Woe is the epitome…

  • The Ghost Locket – Allison Rushby

    Walker Books April 1st 2022 ISBN: 9781760654153Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaDistributor: Walker AustraliaBinding:Release Date: April 1, 2022 Australian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 Allison Rushby has repeatedly proven her gift for suspenseful spookiness for middle-grade readers and this new book, in my opinion, might just have tipped the scales of my favourite so far. Eleven-year-old Lolli (Olivia) has never known her mother,…

  • Interned – Pamela Rushby

    Walker Books March 2022 ISBN: 9781760653019Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $17.99New Zealand RRP: $19.99 I absolutely love Pam’s writing, and her historical fiction is especially satisfying in my eyes, particularly when she incorporates history of Brisbane and Australia. I moved to Queensland in 1985 and while that’s a long time ago, and I’ve been teaching here since 1993, there…

  • Piano Fingers – Caroline Magerl

    Walker Books March 2022 ISBN: 9781760652616Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $26.99New Zealand RRP: $28.99 I have been watching the development of this truly beautiful book for around two years; from the very first balsa wood model, that was to inform the illustrations of the piano, to endearing portraits of the original subject with her little red corduroy shoes, to…

  • Sticky McStickStick: the Friend who Helped me Walk Again – Michael Rosen

    Walker Books February 2022 ISBN: 9781529502404Imprint: Walker Australian RRP: $27.99New Zealand RRP: $29.99 When I first read about Michael Rosen’s near-death Covid episode, I found it incredibly moving as this man is one of my most admired creators of children’s literature. Then I read, and shared, his article thanking Sticky McStickStick, and knew for certain that this was a…

  • Back to School – or not, as the case may be…

    So I’ve had these ones for a while but thought they would be more usefully timed for the start of the school year so was going to post them next week as Queensland schools were due to resume on 24th January. That was the case right up to a few hours ago when the growing…

  • The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall.

    Walker Books Australia October 2021 ISBN: 9781529500899Imprint: WalkerAustralian RRP: $24.99New Zealand RRP: $27.99 It goes without saying that anything Kate writes is superlative, but what I love especially is her ability to create narratives that are so completely different to those by anyone else, as well as her own creative diversity. From the chivalrous Desperaux to the amazing Ulysses,…

  • Our Country: Ancient Wonders – Mark Greenwood/Frané Lessac

    Walker Books February 2022 ISBN: 9781760652241Imprint: Walker Books AustraliaAustralian RRP: $26.99New Zealand RRP: $28.99 What a talented partnership this couple is and how grateful am I that I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk with them both, as well as see them present. Now this first in a new series from the always remarkable Walker house will be…