Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Madame Badobedah and the Old Bones – Sophie Dahl. Illustrated by Lauren O’Hara.

    Walker Books Australia October 2023 Imprint: Walker Books Madame Badobedah Series ISBN13:9781406384420 Australia RRP:$27.99 New Zealand RRP:$29.99 In case you haven’t yet met Madame Badobedah and Mabel who live at the Mermaid Hotel, you are in for a fine treat. And, in case you didn’t know, author Sophie Dahl has quite the pedigree. She is the…

  • Monster Island – George Ivanoff

    Penguin Australia Soooooooo, take a little Jurassic Park, a pinch of Big Foot, a handful of Little Shop of Horrors, a smidgin of mad scientists, a scoop of Bass Strait Triangle [like the Bermuda one, but closer] and an actual drop bear, and stir vigorously with some George Ivanoff – and voila! the perfect, albeit…

  • A Message Through Time – Anna Ciddor

    Allen & Unwin April 2023 ISBN:9781761180125 Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $18.99 For those who love time-slip adventures, and particularly, are keen on ancient history this is a desirable addition to your shelves. I loved The Boy Who Stepped Through Time and after book talking it to my ChocLit kiddos, it was on a regular…

  • Grace’s Escape – Louise Park

    Simon & Schuster September 2021 Publisher: Berbay ISBN13: 9780645069631 RRP: AU$ 16.99 / NZ$ 19.99 Middle school readers fell in love with Grace’s adventures in her first book, Grace’s Secrets, and they will love this next instalment as Grace and her friend, Millie, continue to slip between past and present investigating mysteries and becoming acquainted…

  • The Werewolves who Weren’t – T. C. Shelley

    You can read my review of this fabulous second instalment in this series at Kids Book Review now!

  • Nala’s World: One man, his rescue cat and a bike ride around the globe – Dean Nicholson

    Hachette Australia SEP 29, 2020 | 9781529327991 | RRP $32.99 When Dean Nicholson set off on his cycling journey around the world he had little idea that his epic trip and his life would become an Instagram sensation after he picked up a tiny stray kitten in a remote area of the mountains between Montenegro and Bosnia. Thirty-year-old Dean…

  • Monstrous Devices – Damien Love

    Bloomsbury Australia May 2020 Imprint: Rock the Boat ISBN 9780451478597 RRP $14.99 Firstly if Sid’s Franken-toys in Toy Story freaked you out a bit, you’re really not going to like the titular monstrous devices in this deliciously exciting and somewhat creepy debut novel from Damien Love! Twelve year old Alex has a collection of old…

  • The Good Hawk: (Shadow Skye – Book 1) – Joseph Elliott

    Walker Books Australia February 2020 ISBN: 9781406385854 Imprint: Walker Australian RRP: $16.99 New Zealand RRP: $18.99   Enter a fabulous new adventure-fantasy series that will not just enthral readers with its ‘difference’ being set in a fictional parallel landscape but with its wonderful celebration of another type of difference. Agatha and Jamie are of the Clann-a-Tuath, one of the…

  • Dippy and the Dinosaurs (Dippy the Diprotodon, #2) – Jackie French & Bruce Whatley. Concept by Ben Smith Whatley.

    Harper Collins Australia February 2020 ISBN: 9781460754092 ISBN 10: 1460754093 RRP 24.99 AUD We’ve all been in love with Jackie’s wombats for years and now she and Bruce Whatley have provided us with another fabulous ‘wombat’ character to cherish.  Dippy made his first appearance last year and thoroughly delighted all his young readers. This BIG boisterous and…

  • Will the Wonderkid: Treasure Hunter of the Australian Outback – Stephanie Owen Reeder

      National Library of  Australia February 2020 ISBN:   9780642279521 RRP: $24.99 I adore this series! In Heritage Heroes, Reeder not only takes her readers on adventures but provides rich fodder for hunters of history. Each volume has explored the (often unknown) achievements of young Australian people of the past in a fictionalised narrative which is lavishly…

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