Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • One Day A True Story of Courage and Survival in the Holocaust – Michael Rosen

    Walker Books February 2025 ISBN13:9781529515985 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 Michael Rosen has long been one of the UK’s most acclaimed authors of children’s books. His range of genres is astonishing from the comic to the serious. And his most serious are those books that pertain to the Holocaust, a subject with which Michael has…

  • ANZAC Biscuits (a Commemorative Edition) – Phil Cummings. Owen Swan

    SCHOLASTIC AUSTRALIA March 2026 ISBN: 9781761725302 ISBN-10: 1761725300 Hard to believe it’s 13 years since this lovely book was first published and this is a welcome new edition to replace your original, particularly with this updated and very striking cover [love the touch of gold and the hardcover has the most delightful feel to it, almost like…

  • The Sunbird: Young reader’s edition – Sara Haddad. Illustrations by Baraa Awoor.

    UQP February 2026 February 2026 ISBN: 9780702271076 RRP: $14.99 Sara Haddad has adapted her well-received and highly topical adult novella to this edition for younger readers. While most would try to shield children from the horrors of wars and genocides, there is no doubt that there would be some who know of the struggle for…

  • Words Matter – Anita Fitch Pazner & Sophie Casson

    The Story of Hans and Sophie Scholl, and the White Rose Resistance The Story of Hans and Sophie Scholl, and the White Rose Resistance New South Books Publisher: Groundwood Books 9781773069708 January 2026 AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 While I have known of Hans and Sophie Scholl for many years, as would anyone who follows groups such as…

  • Powerful like a Dragon – Christopher Cheng. Illustrated by Jacqueline Tam

    Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group April 2025 ISBN: 978-1-250-82939-9 | Price: $18.99 US / $24.99 CAN Pan Macmillan Australia ISBN: 9781250829399 Format: Hardback Pub Date: 29/07/2025 Firstly, I want to thank Christopher for asking me if I would like to review this amazing book, about which he and I first had some conversation around this time last year. Secondly,…

  • The Remembered Soldier

    Anjet Daanje (trans. David McKay) Scribe Publications June 2025 ISBN (13):9781761380136 RRP:$37.99 Ok, so I haven’t actually read this one yet but putting in the deets for you all to finish off this week of tributes for the 80th Anniversary. This is a mammoth book – almost 600 pages – and I just haven’t had…

  • The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: Lynne Olsen

    How an intrepid band of Frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s all-female concentration camp Scribe Publications July 2025 ISBN (13):9781761381461 RRP:$36.99 My confession here is that I’ve had this for ages, well and truly long before its release date, and it’s been on my bedside table as I dip in and out of it, book-cheating…

  • Anna’s War – DJ Taylor

    Riveted Press Simon & Schuster July 2025 Aside from, of course, Anne Frank’s diary I knew very little about life for the Dutch during the war. I did glean some from Tulips for Breakfast when I read and reviewed it. But this astonishing debut novel from DJ Taylor has certainly opened my eyes to even…

  • Gregor the Overlander: #1 The Underland Chronicles – Suzanne Collins

    Scholastic Australia April 2025 ISBN: 9781761648335 RRP: $19.99 First published in 2003, well before the Hunger Games, this is a well-loved adventure/fantasy that will both intrigue, delight and, at times, freak your kiddos out. There are always rats in sewers, this we know, and there have been stories about creatures of all kinds living under cities…

  • On Gallant Wings – Helen Edwards

    Riveted Press April 2025 Distributed by Simon & Schuster ISBN13: 9781763526051 LIST PRICE: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99 I can completely relate to author Helen Edward’s comment in her notes that she knew little about the Japanese attack on Darwin. I was certainly the same. Growing up in the late 50s/60s, I knew more about…