Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Mavis the Little Plane Spotter – Angela Toniolo. Shannon Melville

    Wombat Books March 2025 9781761111938 AUD$27.99, NZD$32.99 Yes, a little bit of a cheeky cheat to round off a week of Birdie Num Num posts with this one. But, in my defense, with a Father Bear who was RAF as well as a dear friend in adult life, Squadron Leader and later commercial pilot, Wal…

  • Apples not Orples – R. A. Stephens. Illustrated by Carmen Dougherty.

    Wombat Books/Rhiza Press October 2024 SKU: 9781761111693 RRP: $24.99 Without a doubt, having books that illustrate mathematical concepts are a commodity that are always welcome for classroom teachers. I used plenty in the few years of Year 1 classroom before I went to the library, and was always on the lookout for more afterwards, as…

  • The Counterfeit Bust: Riz Chester – R.A. Stephens. Illustrated by Em Hammond.

    Rhiza Press/Wombat Books May 2023 SKU: 9781761111181 $12.99 Here’s a quick one to promote a series that only recently came my way. As always Wombat books have hit a nail squarely on the head with Riz Chester. She’s an ordinary kid, doesn’t do anything that’s remarkable, pretty average at school but she is observant. In…

  • Skippy Blackfeet – Rebecca Fraser. Illustrated by Jennifer Horn.

    Wombat Books March 2025 9781761111662 RRP: $19.99 When you’re in cyclone prep/watch mode as I was a few days ago (at time of writing), you really need to read ‘light’. Whiskers (aka Demon Spawn) who was none too thrilled about being kept completely confined to barracks for fear the wild winds would whisker her right…

  • Meet Ariana Treasure – Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern. Illustrated by Karen Erasmus.

    Wombat Books March 2025 Introducing a really sweet new reader series for your Smalls who are graduating to early chapter books. This is Ariana Treasure, her family, their thrift shop, their friends and their neighbourhood. Ariana Treasure: The Missing Book 9781761111808 In the first book we are introduced to Ariana and her mum, and the…

  • Shadow Play – Kate Forsyth. Illustrated by Rosalie Street.

    Wombat Books August 2024 9781925563740 $26.99 I’ve often mentioned here the prevalence of anxiety in children, some of them very young, but it’s also fair to point out that there have always been Smalls who have been scared of one thing or another. I know, I was none too thrilled with the dark when I…

  • Walls – Tania Ingram. Illustrated by Ruth-Mary Smith.

    Wombat Books July 2024 ISBN: 9781761111518 RRP: $26.99 Really, isn’t Tania Ingram just so multi-skilled? From the JF humour of Jinny & Cooper and Aggie Flea to the recently released The Other Shadow for older readers (a must-read if you haven’t already) through to picture books with heart such as Oma’s Buttons, she is an…

  • Grace the Amazing – Aleesah Darlison

    Wombat Books May 2024 ISBN: 9781761111174 RRP: $14.99 Eleven-year-old Grace is, in her imagination, Grace the Amazing – a skilled magican who dazzles with her wondrous feats of legerdemain. Certainly that’s how she visualises herself but in reality, it’s more like Grace the Impetuous… Grace the Truculent… Grace the No-Filter… Grace the Friendless. She is,…

  • Pepper Masalah and the Temple of Cats – Rosanne Hawke. Illustrated by Jasmine Berry.

    Wombat Books July 2023 ISBN 9781761111143 Author Hawke, Rosanne; Berry, Jasmine Publisher Wombat Books This is the second in this series, with another due out in November. It is definitely pitched at your newly independent readers, and certainly deals with an interesting plot idea. Zamir (Zam) lives on a farm in Australia with his family…

  • The First Tackle: Girls with Game – Rikki-Lee Arnold

    Wombat Books March 2022 SKU: 9781761110818 RRP $14.99 Speaking from the point of view of the primary school girl who loved rugby league with a passion – and played before school and every break time with some equally determined girls, I absolutely loved this book. Back in my day it really was unheard of for girls…