Just So Stories

Harper Collins Australia

August 2025

ISBN : 9781460767207

RRP: $16.99

Why yes, when it comes to The Kid and I, of course our fondness for rodentia extends to guinea pigs . Although, we only had the one, and that one only for a short time. Only The Kid, then at the height of her home zoo phase, could go for a walk at night in the park across the road and find a guinea pig.

The poor thing was quite scruffy and appeared to be elderly, so we assumed it had been dumped by a family not willing to keep it until its blessed release. She made it as comfortable as possible, kept it warm and watered, encouraged it to eat a little and when it expired a couple of weeks later, we gave it a decent burial.

At no time did that guinea pig speak to us, nor demonstrate any amazing skills or talents and it certainly didn’t display any signs of wealth. But these GPs do all of that and their story will have your kiddos in fits of laughter.

When Magnus McAloon, world’s wealthiest man, dies in an unfortunate experiment gone wrong, his beloved guinea pigs inherit his entire fortune, leaving his blood relatives out to dry. The four GPs, Hot Head, Lunk, G-Chip and Big Pig – actually, just quietly Big Pig is a capybara but he doesn’t know that, and the others don’t tell him (they don’t want him to feel ‘different’) – have been indulged their entire lives and tutored in all manner of learning from human speech to tennis, from fashion sense to music. These pigs have it all. And with literally squillions of dollars now in their bank accounts, and the ability to spend it with just a swipe of their chip-implanted butts, they are sitting pretty.

They only have one teensy problem. Their beloved owner’s vile family want all that moolah for themselves and are determined to get it at any cost. And when you’re as small as a guinea pig, even one that’s actually a capybara, you are pretty much out-gunned by humans. How can the GPs avoid being mulched into body building supplements, abducted and held prisoner or just plain exterminated by the completely odious McAloons?

With help from sympathetic small boy called Sylvester, that’s how. And what goes around comes around. When the GPs are safe, so is Sylvester and his mum. It is completely crazy from start to finish, as you might well have picked up by now (if you’re as smart as a guinea pig, that is) and your kiddos will eat it up. I know from previous experience that there is no guinea pig emoji so we just have to imagine this hamster substitute is the real deal – it’s a 4 🐹🐹🐹🐹 rating for readers from around year 2 upwards.