Just So Stories

These two books have been languishing in the PBs’ tubs for way too long. But news of Sean’s recent visit to Canberra [so jelly of all my friends there who got to see him] has guilted me into attending to them pronto. And after all, Sean is a thoroughly nice guy it seems. When I asked him for some input as I was putting together the follow-up resources to his YABBA Online spot, he was wonderfully helpful and generous. [Thanks again Sean!]

Neville’s Great Escape

Walker Books

April 2025

ISBN13:9781760659042

Australia RRP:$25.99

New Zealand RRP:$27.99

As a companion book to super popular Frank’s Red Hat, this one is a cracker. It’s not just that penguins are in and of themselves so comical at times, but penguins with attitude are even more so, and they don’t come with much more grit, determination and penguin-esque than Neville.

When swallowed by a whale and ending up in its mouth alongside a seal called Reg, Neville first decides to make himself comfortable with a seemingly endless supply of household chattels. But then boredom sets in and he is fully set on making an escape before being fully swallowed and digested.

His first attempt to build a furniture tower (with an even more endless supply of furniture!) isn’t a success but undeterred he tries again, with Reg at his heels. This time it might have worked, except you can’t reach a whale’s blowhole from its stomach. Ooops!

But when the whale almost chokes on a toppling tower of furniture and spits everything out, Neville and Reg are both blown free! It’s a sand-sational comm-ocean that works in their favour. Kiddos will have loads of fun with this one, just as they have with Frank. So it’s a 5 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧rating for kids from around Prep upwards.

Tony the Moany Groany Pony – Sean E. Avery

Scholastic Australia

May 2025

ISBN:9781761520877

RRP: $19.99

Honestly, every single one of Sean’s books makes me laugh out loud, but this one really did tickle my sense of absurdity, mostly because I was just commenting two days ago about badly rhyming books and the people who think because they can make a rhyme, that it must be good. Wrong! And trust me, there are plenty I don’t review because of that.

This is utterly hilarious as the ‘narrator’ fol-de-rols with ridiculous rhymes banging on about farmyard ridiculousness like hens juggling eggs and mice chasing cats.

All the while, Tony who really is one hella grumpy pony (must be a Shetland) pours scorn on the rhyming nonsense, hurls sarcastic commentary (my kind of pony there) and even pickets it. Until at the end of all the hullabaloo, he is suitably mollified when he finds out that all the fuss has been for his birthday – which he completely forgot. It’s almost a bit Eeyore substituting grumpiness for miserable.

Kids will, I guarantee, laugh uproariously over this one. By the way, both of these books also have super endpapers but the ones for this one in particular are pure magic! This is another 5 🐴🎂🐴🎂🐴 rating, again for Preps upwards.