Just So Stories

First of all, I want to thank everyone who’s paid a visit to Just So Stories in 2024, which has had the most gangbuster result in all its eleven years! Quite an increase in several areas and for a blog that has grown organically, with very little ‘promotion’ other than my own SM, but basically via word of mouth, I am delighted. Woo hoo!! 🎉👏 thanks to you guys!

I’m quite sure there are those who will brag their stats are higher, but I’m not in this as a competition, nor as a commercial enterprise. I do it purely because I love it, and I know that as a teacher-librarian, I appreciated genuine reviews of books so that I could make informed decisions. So many who review who don’t actually read the books [I’m really talking novels here!] and it’s easy to tell when that’s the case. I don’t review it if I haven’t read it. And if I’ve read it and hated it, I won’t review it. No one needs a negative review. If I’ve read it and I’m just OK with it, I say so. I get quite a few people message me to ask me about particular books and I always give them an honest opinion. I hope that’s part of the attraction.

And then I want to thank all the publicists and creators who offer me the privilege of highlighting their work – it brings me such joy, and I know is appreciated by quite a number of people. And my posts must come across ok as I’ve seen both my style and my actual words appropriated by others – which is not so cool, but I can be magnanimous [whilst at the same time being extremely annoyed especially when it’s people who should be more authentic].

And lastly, this year I want to thank those who have entrusted me to write teaching notes/classroom activities for their work. These have been varied in many ways from YA to easy picture books, fiction to non-fiction -it’s been a blast.

It’s also been a year for me to be a little more creative in my own right, working on a picture book text, playing around with some MG fiction and commissioned for a non-fiction reader – stay posted in the new year for progress on any!

In the meantime, I hope everyone reading this had an enjoyable and soothing festive season and that your 2025 will be amazing!