Just So Stories

Yellow Brick Books/Riveted Press

June 2024

ISBN13: 9780648492511

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

RRP: $24.99

If you love J.Lo (Oh), from the movie Home (and the books The True Meaning of Smekday/Smek for President) as much as I do, you are certainly going to love Allen. And your kiddos will also love this quirky character as he grapples with his first adventure on Earth.

Allen doesn’t quite understand how Earthlings react or behave but is quite sure of himself in what he does and says. In actual fact, when Allen along with his pet, Byte, tries to interact with the humans, he continually misinterprets their reactions to his overtures of friendship.

Allen’s rather frightening-looking toys (very much more like nasty weapons to the human eye), his exceedingly loud supersonic horn and his completely horrific dress-ups alienate him (yes, completely intentional) from the Earth children he thinks are enjoying his visit.

For every child who has arrived at a new school and feels the odd one out because they don’t know the local games or interests, for every newcomer who can’t speak the local language, for every ND child who doesn’t ‘read the room’ even whey they try so hard, Allen is going to be a hero.

Despite all the very different attempts to play which just don’t work, when Allen and Byte leave, there are some sad children. It’s a great look at accepting differences and will easily open a lot of conversation, and, more importantly, develop the empathy we want to see in our Smalls.

See a terrifically fun trailer here and read Stephanie Ward‘s interview with Aleesah Darlison, over at Little Darlings . And it must be said, Aleck Morton‘s illustrations are the perfect fit for a completely bizarro little alien – great job (and awesome endpapers, just saying!). Take your EI learning to a whole new level by adding this one to your shelf – it’s crazy good!

It’s always such a pleasure to see a debut book so full of promise for future works, and it’s an out-of-this-world 4 👽👽👽👽 rating.