Just So Stories

Bloomsbury Australia

July 2024

ISBN	9781526610737
Imprint	Bloomsbury Children’s Books

RRP: $22.99

Home is where your family is…

From start to finish this is just a beautiful book in all respects. With absolutely exquisite illustrations, this exploration of what ‘home’ means will give rise to many bountiful conversations with both Smalls and Not-so-Smalls about the importance of family.

For us, family embraces many who are not blood-kin and that could very easily be the case for some of your kiddos. But whether they are related by birth or by the generosity of the universe to bring them our way, family is the one true place we know we are home.

Elephant is finding it hard to feel ‘at home’. In the forest, he is too small to reach the fruit on the trees, but his mother bends the branch towards him. At the watering hole the water is too deep for him to feel at home, but his big sister leads him to the shallows. At night, the plains feel empty and huge, but his grandmother promises to watch over him. But he still is not sure and wanders off in the dark, searching for where he will find himself feeling that sense of home.

As is inevitable, when he gets lost, it is frightening and lonely and his loud cries sound across the landscape. Until he hears ‘the rhythm of many footsteps like a gentle drum‘ , the sound that is the accompaniment to his daily life, and his loving herd finds him, and once again he is safe in their sheltering embrace. Finding where we belong, fitting in, being loved and holding our loved ones close are all so very needful for us and, perhaps, even more so for our little people.

Hogtun’s artwork is truly stunning as he captures the elephants’ day with his palette that perfectly delineates each time and place they travel. From the rosy sky of the dawn, to the cool greens of the forest, the aqua and turquoise of the waterhole, the sensational sunset across the plains and the velvety indigo of the night – each page is just pure delight.

With its beautiful binding, the amazing art and this warming tale of belonging and being cared for, this is a must-have for any collection, whether library or home. Check out Stephen Hotgun’s art – I’ll certainly be looking out for more of his illustrated books. It’s an unreservedly jumbo-sized 5 🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘 recommendation from me.

Filled with beautiful, luminous artwork, this gorgeous picture book tells a universal story about love, family and belonging that will resonate for readers across the generations. Bloomsbury