Just So Stories

Penguin Australia

May 2024

• ISBN: 9781761049866
• Imprint: Penguin
• $19.99

Honestly, before you put this on your shelves for your kiddos, you need to read it first. Because once they get their hands on it and the word spreads, you will never get a look in! I was hooked from the very start and this is a whole package; supernatural, folktales, Nazis, the Resistance, Jewish persecution and utterly gripping fantasy/historical fiction all rolled up together.

Beginning with a very spooky episode with the Grimm brothers collecting a story, which proves to be the undoing of one, the narrative follows a thread of the collected works of Jakob and Wilhelm which, of course, Hitler took up as a piece of propaganda twisted to suit his purposes.

Hannah Ginsberg cannot understand why as a child born in Germany she is not considered a German. Instead, she and her parents are labelled and persecuted for being Jewish, and eventually leave everything behind in Poland. They are in hiding in the dank, dark and freezing cellar of the Meyer family with little comfort, just their lives intact. Hannah clings to the copy of Grimms fairy tales given to her by Sofia Meyer. It doesn’t matter to her that the book is inscribed to Sofia from her parents. It is a gift worth having when she has had to leave all her beloved books behind.

When the Meyer house is smashed under an Allied bombing attack, while the Meyers are out at the theatre, the rescuers find Hannah clutching Sofia’s book alongside her dead parents. The supposition by authorities that she is Sofia Meyer saves her life. When the girl wakes up in hospital, she realises what has happened and almost reveals her true identity but is stopped by her kind nurse, who is actually Resistance.

Hannah knows enough of Sofia and her family to know that there is an aunt, away up in the mountains who has not seen the Meyers for many years, and it is there that Hannah, now known as Sofia, is taken for safety. When Hannah arrives at the isolated village of Felshoven away up high she is still in a leg cast and grieving her parents, whilst trying to impersonate the now dead Sofia. And thus begins a sinister train of events punctuated by happy moments.

As Hannah makes friends, finds some safety, starts some schooling again and learns to adapt to her ‘aunt’ and her ways, there is a continual menace from the Oberstleutnant Kessler and his soldiers, the vile and intrusive Volksempfänger (the ‘people’s radio receiver’) and a mysterious impenetrable fog constantly clouding the village.

And more than that, once Hannah realises it – children are disappearing, but no one remembers them, not even their own parents. It seems she is the only one whose brain has not yet been infiltrated but that’s not her only unusual attribute.

There are secrets, and histories, and treachery, and lies, and long-lost folktales, and an insidious plan by an unscrupulous and ruthless SS officer but also bravery, ingenuity and loyalty.

This is being promoted as YA, but I would have no hesitation in giving it to my Year 6s who are both astute and mature enough to deal with some really nasty Nazis (is there any other kind?). It is one helluva story and trust me, it will be the word of mouth that sends this one flying amongst your readers, especially those ones who are always keen for a bit of creepiness.

What a rollercoaster it is and I highly recommend it with a huge 5 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 [read it if you want to know why the bones!]