Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

January 2024

• ISBN: 9781460761496
• ISBN 10: 1460761499
• Imprint: HarperCollins AU
• RRP: $19.99

This is another great novel coming from WA with fresh new voices and perspectives, and one of my most enjoyable reads of last year [I was reading the proof to write the teaching notes]. Jamie is a lively and intelligent girl who is very at ease with both her Aboriginality and her bisexuality, although she often wishes she wasn’t the only queer student in the school. She has a great group of friends, loves her footy and is hoping for a scholarship to the big smoke.

There’s not much to do in Parkerton but it’s a good place to live. It wasn’t until new girl, Stella, arrives that Jamie’s unease about the endemic subtle racism at her school, the more obvious overt racism of the history curriculum and the yearning she has for someone of her own persuasion really starts to ramp up.

Despite Stella’s apparent whitefella appearance and circumstances, she’s actually as Blak as Jamie and her mates. Not only that, she proves herself a very competent ally in changing the mindset of the school admin as far as truth telling and authentic Australian history goes. Jamie’s ups and downs are partly told via the journal she’s writing in her English class which is a time-honoured literary method for the reader to understand more fully the character’s thoughts.

As an aside, I’d like to say that from my first year of teaching (which was Year 5), whenever possible, I’ve incorporated journal writing into my classroom. We set aside 10 mins each day, usually after lunchbreak, for this. It didn’t matter if the kid wrote ‘I played footy on the oval’ or if, as happened at times, they would share a worry or a drama. There was no judging, this was not for ‘assessment’, I took the pile of journals home every night and wrote a response to each child. It was time-consuming, particularly when you have your own family to deal with each evening, but so worth it. It gave me such insight into what was a very diverse class in a rural school, where many of them had never had anyone take much interest in either themselves or their situations. It’s a very simple way of really connecting with your kiddos, no matter which year level you’re teaching.

Jamie and Stella come up with a campaign, ably aided by Jamie’s Gran and Stella’s teacher dad, that has real impact on their school’s curriculum, opens the conversation about the attitudes towards the First Nations students, and also, incidentally, paves the way for other students to feel more comfortable with coming out.

It is a great read and I think for many young students, particularly but not confined to mob kids, it will be a real inspiration. It is loaded with humour, real warmth and a whole lot of good vibin’ attitude.

Brooke Blurton, made a real mark as the Bachelorette’s first Indigenous and bisexual contestant, but is better known for her youth work, radio and TV work along with her memoir Big Love: Reclaiming myself, my people, my country which is on my TBR list [hellooooooo Harper?? LOL].

Melanie Saward, who describes herself as writer and publishing all-rounder is another of our outstanding First Nations creators. What a deadly writing combo this pair of tiddas makes!!

While you/your school may have a problem using this as a set reading, it would make for an amazing book group choice for your astute readers, and certainly, above all, a novel for First Nations teens, many of whom struggle with their identity in a society that often refuses to adapt even infinitesimally.

I hope that the teaching notes might assist with your use of the book, which I’m glad to give a 5 ✍🏽✍🏽✍🏽✍🏽✍🏽 rating.

At 11, Brooke Blurton’s mum and grandma died days apart. For 2 years, she couldn’t speak.