Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Mimi and Buwaarr/Mother and Baby – Melissa Greenwood

    Harper Collins Australia March 2024 Being your miimi (mother) is the most precious gift life can give. When you were born you opened my heart as wide as the ocean. Every new Melissa Greenwood book I see I love, and think – they can’t possibly get any more beautiful. And yet, here we are –… Read more

  • The Unexpected Mess of it All- Gabrielle Tozer

    Harper Collins Australia May 2024 Oh yes, a rom-com that will have your young readers absolutely in paroxyms of delight! This was just so engaging from the very first page, and I loved every word, character and certainly, the outcome. Jamila Dakhoul feels her life is in a complete mess. Since her family home (and… Read more

  • The Garden of Broken Things – Freya Blackwood

    Harper Collins May 2024 We always know, when we hear there is a new Freya Blackwood on the horizon that it will be both beautiful and insightful. Freya’s incalculable talent for creating atmospheric narratives and illustrations has become a standard of excellence. Her numerous awards, including the coveted Kate Greenaway Medal in 2010 (for Harry… Read more

  • National Reconciliation Week 2024 & Sorry Day

    My beautiful friend, Kirsty, asked me if I had some suggested titles/resources for Reconciliation Week and that was a prompt for me to create another post focused on First Nations titles and resources. I did also post one in 2023. Of course, there are [now] many books and resources to encourage cross-cultural embedding in your… Read more

  • 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,… Read more

  • Cheer Up, Blobfish! – Julie Murphy. Illustrated by Rachel Tribout.

    Affirm Press April 2024 AUD RRP $19.99 ISBN 9781922863966 Check out the adorable cover on this gem!! The Kid and I have long had a soft spot [so to speak] for blobfish, going way back to her days as mini-Attenborough, so this book was always on my radar. And really, who could go past that… Read more