Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

August 2023

• ISBN: 9780063067929
• ISBN 10: 0063067927
• Imprint: HarperCollins US
• RRP: $24.99

It seems that for most people it’s either one or the other. Cats or Dogs (always one of my most popular weekly ‘This or That’ votes in my libraries!) For me, it’s cats. I’ve owned dogs and loved dogs but I find it hard to live without a cat. Although, truthfully, the Demon Spawn aka Whiskers, is a feline enfant terrible but even so, we wouldn’t be without her.

So if, like us, you are a cat person, you will be familiar with all the behaviours and actions in this delightful picture book, as well as being highly amused. Just as, I suspect, will your kiddos.

It is written simply but hugely descriptively and would make for some solid teaching around parts of speech, particularly verbs/verb groups and prepositions. It is also, as you would guess, an excellent choice for promoting wonder and inquiry learning.

The sparse text follows a child and cat spending their entire day exploring and discovering, and occasionally getting into mischief, and the charming mixed media illustrations, and,particularly the collage technique, lend themselves to a follow-up art activity. To complete this package there are several pages of backmatter with interesting facts about cats.

I think this would be a really well received read-aloud for Smalls from Prep upwards, and could easily fit snugly into a unit on animals, domestic or wild, or as an impetus for kick-starting some wonder learning.