Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

August 2023

• ISBN: 9781803704616
• ISBN 10: 1803704616
• Imprint: Usborne GB
• RRP: $14.99

It is absolutely true that all kids, younger or older, will have some friendship issue/s at some point. And certainly we try to help them navigate this as best we can in our respective educational or other settings. Which makes books such as this tremendously important to have at hand.

Speaking from my own experience, and others may well have a different take, I have not often seen kiddos pick books of this nature up of their own volition. Where I see their very real value is for us as teachers to use these as regular interludes in our individual settings.

In some schools you will have regular ‘connect’ sessions (aka personal development or similar), but these are mostly secondary based. So in primary schools, we need to make sure we factor this in. Do you have circle time? Do you have a ‘chill afternoon’?

Make time for important talk because many children do not get the opportunity for these sorts of discussions at home. While kids of any age can and will have issues, conflicts, uncertainties, questions around friendships, I can certainly see this being a paramount resource for that final year of primary school (Year 6 here in Qld).

In many of my schools over the past decade, a majority of the students are moving into the secondary sector of the college, while some are moving onto other schools. But even those who transition within the same school, are very likely to have shifts in their friendships as they adjust to high school, develop new interests etc.

I have known many wonderful year 6 teachers who take a lot of time to develop transition activities, and have indeed, been part of this with my teaching in the library setting.

The photos of the contents pages give you a good overview of the topics covered but I can tell you there is a good mix of helpful advice, quick quizzes, definitions (e.g., empathy), suggestions, hints and tips, dealing with social media and tricky situations and more.

I’d certainly recommend it for your library but would strongly recommend it for your teachers who are most likely to be utilising this as part of their PD sessions with their students.