Reviews
Posted on February 2, 2017
Magazines, journals and newspapers
Stephanie is an award-winning reviewer who has been reviewing books since the 1980s for journals such as Reading Time, Magpies and Australian Book Review, as well as for The Canberra Times (from 1988 to 2023) and other newspapers.
In 2004, Stephanie won the Australian Book Review reviewing competition with a review of Jeannie Baker’s stunning picture book Belonging (‘From Little Things Big Things Grow: Belonging by Jeannie Baker’, Australian Book Review, February 2005: 44).
Some of Stephanie’s book review articles can be accessed online. This is just a small selection:
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/stephanie-owen-reeder-who-needs-words-20170410-gvi4vz.html
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/book-reviews-artful-animals-20161107-gsk38a.html
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/charm-and-chuckle-factor-20121116-29fdm.html
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/entertainment/imagine-that-20120824-24pkd.html
Reviewing anthologies
Stephanie’s reviews feature in three anthologies.
Worlds of Wonder: Celebrating the Great Classics of Children’s Literature
Edited by Daniel Hahn, Melbourne University Press 2025
Worlds of Wonder is a beautifully illustrated journey through the most beloved classics of children’s literature, spanning more than twenty countries and one hundred and fifty years. Leave the world behind and join some of the greatest children’s writers on a journey through human imagination in this compendium of the world’s most beloved children’s fiction. Focused on books for children from ages five to twelve, catch up with old friends or make plenty of new ones.
This comprehensive title features a number of Australasian titles. The books reviewed by Stephanie Owen Reeder are Once by Morris Gleitzman, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Under the Mountain by Maurice Gee.
1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up
Edited by Julia Eccleshare, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2009
1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up is the perfect introduction to the very best books of childhood: those books that have a special place in the heart of every reader. It introduces a wonderfully rich world of literature to parents and their children, offering both new titles and much-loved classics that many generations have read and enjoyed. From wordless picture books and books introducing the first words and sounds of the alphabet through to hard-hitting and edgy teenage fiction, the titles featured in this book reflect the wealth of reading opportunities for children. Picture books reviewed by Stephanie Owen Reeder are One Woolly Wombat; Felix and Alexander; John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat; The Quinkins; Animalia; Drac and the Gremlin; and Are We There Yet?
The Good Reading Guide: 100 Critics Review Contemporary Australian Fiction
Compiled by Helen Daniel, McPhee Gribble, Sydney, 1989
The Good Reading Guide gives a taste of some 650 titles of Australian fine novels and short story collections published from 1970 to 1990. Novels reviewed by Stephanie Owen Reeder are Dreamhouse by Kate Grenville, and The Bodysurfers and A Cry in the Jungle Bar by Robert Drewe.