Just So Stories

Walker Books Australia

Imprint: Melbourne Style Books

ISBN13:9780645910605

Australia RRP:$29.99

New Zealand RRP:$34.99

You might remember that just a couple of weeks ago I shared reviews of two different cockatoo books [Sonia definitely remembers! she’s still battling her backyard vandal]. And just like the birds themselves being everywhere, seemingly at one time, along comes another crazy cockatoo!

Shane is bored. I’m sure if we all live to 100 we might also get a bit fed up with the day-to-day mundane. So this bird decides to take matters into his own wings – and beak, so to speak.

Away he flies all over town and country to find new sounds, new experiences and new things to shred – like houses or crops or really anything to get his beak on. Of course, along the way there are times he picks up the rest of his mob because you know, sometimes being part of a gang-gang is more fun.

Maree Coote has crafted a really lively and fun rhyming text, accompanied by utterly fabulous illos which completely capture the essence of these often naughty birds as they blithely swoop around the country leaving trails of destruction behind them. It will be a truly hilarious read-aloud for your Smalls and I would certainly encourage some ‘play along’ with them mimicking the various sounds. It will be a cacophonous  classroom for sure! You will have the perfect ready-made lesson in onomatopoeia.

Along with the humour, author Maree has provided a page of cockatoo facts in the backmatter and once you put all your cockatoo books together, you could get a lot of mileage out of these related titles.

I relished this one as much a cocky enjoys a good chomp out of a new piece of decking or your home-grown corn crop. I give it a raucously squawking 5 🪽🪽🪽🪽🪽 rating for readers from around 3 years upwards.