Just So Stories

New South Books

New Frontier

October 2024

9781923145061 / AUD$26.99, NZD$32.99

Not so long ago I had the pleasure of seeing Annie’s skill with dogs in Julie Murphy’s Dog Beach and now she brings her popular canine character, Clementine, back for a humorous Christmas romp that your Smalls will enjoy greatly.

The narrative is an easy and simple rhythmic tale of misadventure with the family Xmas presents. When Granny’s runaway skein of knitting yarn ends up in a tangle all around the Xmas tree, thanks to Clementine’s well-intentioned diligence in helping to look for it, not only does the tree faint but all the parcels lose their tags. Granny is pretty sure she can figure out which belongs where. But come Christmas morning, it seems not really so! Smalls will giggle a lot at the incongruity of the mismatched presents. Luckily, James comes up with an excellent solution. Much of the delivery comes from Annie’s highly expressive illustrations.

I’m sure you will enjoy, as much as I did, this insight into the Clementine stories including this one, from Annie as guest author on Paperbark Words. This is a fun read for Smalls from Prep up to around Year 2 and it gets a 4 🎄🎄🎄🎄rating from me. Well worth picking up a copy for a Xmas Eve read and some ‘what if’ fun.