Just So Stories

Hardie Grant Australia

November 2024

ISBN:9781761212291

Price:AU$24.99, NZ$27.99Page

Publisher:Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing

At a time when the world is in turmoil, much of it due to ignorance, intolerance and bigotry, there could not be a more timely choice for a book that will bring children right across the country together, in a glorious celebration and a move towards greater acceptance and empathy.

This year has seen some of us urging more educators to recognise and embrace the power of picture books in our teaching, and certainly this is something I have done for my entire 25+ years as a teacher-librarian, and in my occasional role as a secondary English teacher. But the influence of a great picture-book is not merely confined to English and Smalls. As I endeavoured to promote in my teaching notes for The Grown-up’s Guide to Picture Books, this is a genre that has a multiplicity of applications across curriculum areas and can bring real depth to rich discussions and deep learning.

On the surface, this is a relatively simple and sweet story. A man who drives trucks across the country has a companion cat.

Some cats are house cats. Some are apartment cats.

But Tinka is a truck cat. Tinka lives everywhere.

An incident in which the cat becomes separated from both cat-guardian and truck, sees him meet a bakery owner. Truckie and baker coincide, and cat is reunited with his original guardian but together they all forge a new family. See – simple! But oh how much deeper and richer is this story?

Yacoub is, like many others, an immigrant and feels the distance between both his homeland and his adopted land heavily, given the barriers of distance and language and customs. Meeting Mari, who has rescued his precious friend Tinka, is like a renewal of spirit for Yacoub. It is not just a connection with his old life but an invitation to a new one, one that will embrace not only his adopted country but create an entire new identity for him, with a family and home.

I absolutely adore this choice for NSS 2025 and I know there are resources coming up because of that (which I will add as they become available). The new edition is out this week proudly bearing the NSS logo so if you’ve missed it, get it on your list so you have lots of time to give some serious thought to how might incorporate it into your community. I already envisage Mother Tongue Days, multi-cultural celebrations, social justice initiatives for immigrants and refugees – the list is endless. My biggest commendation to ALIA for this choice and my total admiration to both creators, Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell, who have given us and our Smalls this very special book. Naturally, it gets a 5 🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱 rating. Splendid from all angles!