Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Hey, Zazou! – Tony Thompson

    Ford St Publishing April 2025 ISBN: 9781922696410 RRP: $19.95 Here’s another fabulous historical fiction that I not only really enjoyed reading, but loved writing notes for as I discovered a whole other side to the Paris Occupation in World War II of which I was completely unaware. I knew about the Swing Kids in Germany…

  • The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Die – Peter Lantos

    Scholastic Australia Imprint: SCHOLASTIC LTD UK Author:Lantos, Peter ISBN: 9781761299643 RRP: $23.95 One doesn’t often read a graphic novel that is autobiographical. I think Raymond Briggs’ is the only one I can recall off the top of my head, but this one by Holocaust survivor and British scientist Peter Lantos BEM FMedSci is an example…

  • Blak ANZAC Day

    You are correct. I did say the blog was having a break until after ANZAC Day but when Big Sky Publishing sent me these which arrived today (16th) how could I not read and review them to mark ANZAC 2025. You might already have them or not but be well advised to do so, if…

  • Courage be my Friend: the Vivian Bullwinkel Story – Jenny Davis

    Fremantle Press April 2024 ISBN: 9781760993726 RRP: $17.99 It would be completely unAustralian to not know the name of Vivian Bullwinkel and to know of her significant role in our history. But I’ll be honest in saying that I didn’t know very much beyond the general details. This is a fictionalised account of Vivian’s extraordinary courage…

  • All the Beautiful Things – Katrina Nannestad

    Harper Collins October 2024 RRP: $22.99 It goes without saying that Katrina Nannestad’s books are going to fly off the shelves. She just produces one amazing narrative after another. When I was asked to write notes for this new one, I was naturally delighted. I found the book not only completely engrossing but quite emotional…

  • Jack’s Island – Norman Jorgensen

    Fremantle Press January 2024 ISBN: 9781760992958 RRP: $17.99 Since its initial publication in 2008, Norman Jorgensen’s award-winning historical novel has proven not only an enduring popular choice for many class novel studies, but as a first-rate adventure constantly in circulation among readers from around Year 5 to Year 8. Based on stories from his own father,…

  • Hitler’s Daughter 25th Anniversary – Jackie French

    Harper Collins Australia July 2024 When I took this out of the parcel I was aghast – at the fact of it being 25 years since I first read this, one of Jackie’s most loved MG books. I sent her a message saying so and she replied that she found it hard to believe as…

  • One by One They Disappear – Mike Lucas

    Penguin Australia May 2024 Honestly, before you put this on your shelves for your kiddos, you need to read it first. Because once they get their hands on it and the word spreads, you will never get a look in! I was hooked from the very start and this is a whole package; supernatural, folktales,…

  • The Adventures of William Brambleberry: Aviator Mouse – Geneviève Hopkins. Illustrated by Alexandra Heazlewood.

    Brambleberry Press ISBN: 978064815520 RRP: $23.99 From the first moment I saw this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it. How could I not… as the daughter of an WWII RAF crewie, albeit different squadron and different aircraft? When absolutely adorable softie William arrived with my copy from Geneviève, I was…

  • Those Girls -Pamela Rushby

    Walker Books Australia April 2024 ISBN13:9781760657840 Australia RRP:$19.99 New Zealand RRP:$22.99 Pamela Rushby’s books are always a treat. For me though, it’s a given that those historical fictions set in Brisbane are the most fascinating. Because I didn’t grow up here, I knew a bare minimum of the city’s history prior to moving here in…