Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

March 2024

• ISBN: 9780008410896
• ISBN 10: 0008410895
• Imprint: HarperCollins GB
• RRP: $19.99

Synchronicity has been a theme in my life the last few weeks and reading this was no exception. I started reading it two nights ago, the same day I started listening to David Mitchell’s Unruly on audio in the car. I’d enjoyed one of the early chapters in which DM, in his own inimitable way, explains why the whole King Arthur thing is pure legend, and then start in on this to find Tilly, Oskar, Milo, Alessia and Rosa at Tintagel, in search of Merlin. [!!] They believe they need the wizard’s aid to rescue their families from the Alchemist and save imagination for all the world.

And so we plunge into the last thrilling instalment of what has been one of the most widely popular fantasy series in recent years. [The fact that it has been so widely promoted by Mighty Girl speaks volumes.] There is so much to love in this last one, and the symbolism and referencing is superb. The thread of story/stories (echoed by the thread used by Theseus, and those spun by the Fates), circles v lines (the cylical nature of true story), past/present/future (Arthur, Persephone), myths and legends as the first stories, and the ultimate power of imagination are all part and parcel of this fantastical adventure.

Once the children find Merlin, they also learn more about their own abilities to employ imagination, beyond the boundaries of bookwandering as they have come to know it. With his apparent assistance, they travel through layers to ancient myths to learn and gain from characters such as Calliope, the Fates, Hades and Hermes, as well as Odin, Loki and Thor. They learn much about these ‘heroic’ figures that is sometimes far from honourable and valorous, but that’s what story is, isn’t it? – especially story that has evolved from the many ages past.

Throughout, each child develops his or her own strengths, abilities and self-belief. Astute readers will discern this, and they will also make connections which will lead them to the real villain who threatens the world of story, and the free rein of imagination.

I absolutely loved this tense journeying through the myths and legends that I have always loved as a reader, and could easily imagine what each scene might look like, and I am confident that many well-read kiddos would do likewise.

As befits all epics, there is a glorious final battle between good and evil, but not the kind that Thor & Co might have engineered. The children use their newly enhanced abilities to harness imagination, their intimate knowledge of story and their innate goodness to create a solution that is just and principled.

Getting through the 400 pages over the course of three sittings was no difficulty as I eagerly turned each page, and I doubt that the length of this one would put any keen reader off either. I know from the kiddos in my own libraries that each has been a sought after read with subsequent new instalments anticipated impatiently.

I fear there will be some sadness that it has come to an end, despite the absolutely triumphant and perfect conclusion, but given there is a teaser for a new series to come, there may be some consolation. I give this and, in fact, the entire series my heartiest recommendation.