Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

March 2024

• ISBN: 9780733343117
• ISBN 10: 0733343112
• Imprint: ABC Books AU
• RRP: $16.99

To be honest, Katrina’s books sell themselves, they really don’t need any help from me. In particular, her series like this one which have engaged readers from the outset.

Take a horse-drawn ‘bookshop’, a somewhat eccentric bookseller father, an excitable [and possibly neuro-divergent] little brother (of course, that might just be little brothers in general), a trio of somewhat odd pets and one fairly level-headed and big-hearted girl called Mim, and set them down in the middle of a problem that needs a solution.

Daisy the Clydesdale pulls the caravan/bookshop all around the world and stops where she thinks it should be. And in this new adventure, that’s Venice, “The Floating City”, where a family rivalry to equal that of the Montagues and Capulets tests out Mim’s knack of restoring equilibrium all round.

The Magnificos and the Fortes are not bad people, but long-held and long-forgotten slights have led to a hostility that borders on warfare. Mim and Nat soon discover that even their new friends Pippa and Maria, are on ‘opposite’ sides.

It will take a lot of catastrophes – including Mim hurting her ankle when she’s accidentally in the middle of a scuffle plus exactly the right book to sort this generations-old feud out for once and all.

Another delightful episode full of charm and kindness, this will have young readers excited all over again – and,of course, wishing they too could travel in a marvellous, magical caravan. A big 5 💈💈💈💈💈 recommendation for this one – where will Mim and family find themselves next I wonder?