Just So Stories

UQP

September 2024

ISBN 9780702268373

RRP: $16.99

2024 was, as I’ve said many times, a year for splendid Australian middle-grade novels and this, the latest from Shivaun Plozza is a prime example.

That transition between end of primary/start of secondary is a difficult time for many tweens. It’s often a time when long-held friendships unravel to a lesser or greater extent, sometimes irrevocably. Throw in complications like divorce, new parental partners, puberty and general changes: is it any wonder our tweens can often find themselves wrestling with big emotions and problems?

For Sid, her friendship with Lou, since they were little kids, has been built firstly on propinquity as their families have always camped together at the same place. It is, in fact, where Sid’s mother grew up and also, the site of a famous shipwreck and the history of the heroic sole survivor. Sid and Lou have always chatted constantly throughout their year apart, waiting until their two weeks of holiday camping, to start exploring for the wreck and the mysterious treasure again.

But now, everything is just wrong – in Sid’s eyes. As if it wasn’t bad enough her mum and dad splitting up, now her mother has brought her new beau, Tony, and his snarky 13 year old daughter along. Lou has turned up with a new friend in tow – and suddenly, the whole friendship dynamic has swivelled. Sid had been disappointed at the decreased contact throughout the year from Lou, but hadn’t realised that she had been usurped by ‘cool’ Hailey. Sid tries her best to make the pair a trio, but she just doesn’t fit, no matter how hard she tries. Lou is far more enamoured of Hailey and bikinis, boys and bling than shipwrecks and survivors. And it hurts.

As Sid deals with all the impact on her emotions, she gains insight into her own flaws. She begins to see why Lou has found another friend, and much to her surprise, Sid also finds a new friend – someone so unexpected but with the same passion as herself. She learns to see her mother’s choices in another light, while her mother realises she should have been more gentle in her approach.

There is so much to unpack in this one. It would make a terrific serial read for your Year 6 kids and lead to much rich and meaningful discussion on what is a very real and heart-breaking issue for so many tweensters.

On that note, I’d also suggest grabbing Find Your Tribe (And 9 Other Things I Wish I’d Known in High School) – Rebecca Sparrow, for strategies perfectly suited to kiddos in this bracket. I bought all three in the series for The Kid and follow Rebecca’s SM because in real terms, it had been a long time since I had raised a tween and the world is a very different place. I reckon we need all the help we can get!

If you’re planning for this year, particularly in that space of Personal and Social Capability in the curriculum, I’m going to say you need both the novel and the guides to have to hand in your collection, whether that’s library, classroom or home. The teaching notes could be a real help to you to get the ball rolling. This gets a 5 ⛵⛵⛵⛵⛵ rating from me.