Just So Stories

Walker Books Australia

March 2024

ISBN13:9781760656409

Australia RRP:$16.99

New Zealand RRP:$18.99

It certainly gives me great pleasure to review this debut middle-grade novel from local (and indeed, almost neighbour) Annaleise Byrd. Your readers of such titles as Pages & Co and Inkspell, in which literature and real life mix and meld, will love this new take on fractured fairytales.

Although Basil and Terry are neighbours, they aren’t exactly friends. Basil is the book lover, Terry is the sports fanatic and never the twain shall meet. Until, that is, Basil is conscripted to help Terry with his reading – much to the disgust of both. Grimm’s Fairytales strikes Basil as an odd choice for Terry to have made, until he realises that Terry was interpreting the title as ‘grim’ – potentially, horror.

To be fair, we know as Basil also knows, that the Grimm brothers collected some pretty terrifying tales indeed, and so the reading tuition commences. It doesn’t, however, get very far.

When Gretel (yes, THAT Gretel) comes hurtling out of the pages of the book and bursts into tears, both boys are completely flummoxed. Unbelievably, they find themselves roped into helping Gretel find Hansel and fixing the disastrous danger facing the fairytale world. Even though Gretel risks Deep Trouble, she knows this calls for outside help.

The two boys are fairly bamboozled, and even more so when they find themselves in a fairytale world that bears no resemblance at all to that in storybooks. Readers will find the acronyms used hilarious, such as: FANCY = Fairytale Alliance Network of Character Yunions. Hansel and Gretel belong to the sub-branch MOST FANCY = Morally Outstanding Stars of the Tale.

They will also, without doubt, relish the interplay between fairytale characters and the two boys. There are twists and turns throughout and lots of clever literary writing. The themes of trust, friendship and compromise are especially pleasing. I am looking forward to attending the official launch for this delightful book in a couple of weeks, in my neighbouring suburb across the bridge.

I feel sure that this is going to strike the right chord with many readers from around 9 years upwards, particularly those who love wordplay. It would certainly make a fabulous shared read with any class from Year 3 to Year 6 and could easily springboard into some creative writing for students.

Congratulations Annaleise on a terrific debut! Very -much recommended for your middle-grade kiddos.