Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

August 2023

• ISBN: 9781460763773
• ISBN 10: 1460763777
• Imprint: HarperCollins AU
• RRP: $22.99

As I have said before, one positive to come out of Covid was a renewed focus on renew/repair/recycle initiatives and slow living. Millie Mak may be only 9 years old but she’s a very good example of this.

I am so on board with Millie and her Scottish grandma checking out the hard garbage. This is has also been a favourite pastime of mine from the time I picked up a complete antique wrought iron bed for my oldest daughter, nearly 50 years ago to the large potted palm in the half-barrel which currently resides out front of our little house. Of course, I also offer up my own no-longer-needed items in the same way.

And my three girls, plus my two granddaughters and myself have always been ‘crafters’ in one way or another, with Brownies/Guides and also at home. So in that sense as well, this new book had great appeal for me. Given that my craft sessions in my libraries have always been so popular, I also predict that young readers will love this, particularly as it comes with instructions for the projects!.

When Millie and Grandma find a truly special dollhouse, it becomes a wonderful project for them both. Millie’s family life is loving and close but also, in some ways, tricky. She loves spending time with her Scottish grandmother but finds her Ahma, Chinese grandmother, who lives with Millie’s family, far more difficult to get along with. Ahma seems to always be so critical of Millie, yet so completely besotted with little Rosie.

Millie also has some problems at her new school. She is not making friends and one girl in particular, Shanelle (the name says it all!) is really very mean. And then there are the dynamics in her family, especially when Dad breaks his leg and is out of work for some time. Things start getting quite tense in the household. Then Millie is sent off to the vacation care at the nearby neighbourhood centre, which is NOT the one she longed for. Nothing seems to be going right.

But actually, everything really is. Millie finds a real niche for her love of recycling and making, as well as friends in the vacation program. She discovers that her sparring grandmothers have far more in common than she, or they, thought. Dad realises that he really does want to do more than deliver food on a motorbike, and enrols in a paramedical course. And even the problems with Shanelle pale as Millie grows in confidence.

This is a sweet and gentle narrative with which many young readers will make connections. The illustrations are equally attractive, and offer real depth to enhance the text – not always achieved in an illustrated novel, in my opinion. I confess to two small objections. It is sometimes a little too obviously didactic for my taste, and despite a truly beautiful binding (and endpapers!) I thought the paper choice for the pages unattractive – however,neither of this mere trifles would impact on a reader’s thoughts, as both of those are pure adult reflections.

Despite appearing to be quite a chunky volume, the text is readily accessible for your younger kiddos, even those who are not yet strong readers. Highly recommended for your Smalls, probably particularly girls, from around 8 upwards.