Just So Stories

Affirm Press

Simon & Schuster

August 2025

• ISBN13: 9781923419056
• RRP: $AU$ 29.99 / NZ$ 36.99

Somewhere, towards the beginning of time, a mountain rose from the ocean and came to rest above the clouds.
Life sang a lullaby, and the mountain slept for many millions of years.
Until one day, when the world became too silent for sleep 

If you have a Sophisticated Picture Books unit you use, this is going to be a marvellous addition to that list [I’m certainly adding it to mine].

Matt Shanks has turned his award-winning talent to creating a masterclass example of a picture book that transcends the bounds of this genre’s most usual audience. It is a book that provides any reader with a vision of hope and a commitment to resilience.

For that reason alone. I would fully endorse its use with your kiddos, whether small or large, because one thing is for certain, we must empower our young people to take action: against the corporations, the politicians, the billionaires, the exploiters, the ignorant (wilful or otherwise) and the careless.

Our planet’s and our species’ survival is at a critical juncture, and while many of us are agitating and doing as much as we can to salvage and protect, there are also many hellbent on a destructive path. Unfolding in an almost wordless graphic format, the story of the mountain is quietly resonant.

The mountain rises from the depths of the ocean and sleeps. Over millenia and a myriad changes and impacts the earth becomes silent and desolate, and the mountain awakes, lonely and yearning for a song i.e. beauty. And goes walking. Through vast emptiness for a thousand years, the mountain trudges on searching for one scrap of beauty and, eventually, finds just a single tiny flower. [remember Wall-E finding that single tiny seedling 🌱? 💚].

Tucking the little bloom carefully into one of its crevices the mountain goes back to its home and settles down, but on the way the flower has spread seeds far and wide. Back in its original setting the mountain begins to notice changes over time, and we see the earth renewing itself, with the greenery and the wildlife returning. As it does, the mountain, now at peace, returns to its slumber.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand the allegory here, and your youngest of Smalls will completely grasp the meaning of this one, but equally, it is a sagacious journey that will capture the imagination and the determination of older students, and, indeed, adult readers. It does so without the need for extensive text and, certainly, without a hint of didacticism.

Along with Matt’s superb illustrations [great opportunity for your art students there], the binding and dustjacket are both absolutely stylish and elegant, reflective of the entire tone of the narrative.

This will surely put Matt on the awards lists again in the coming year which will be 100% well-deserved. It gets a rich and vibrant 5 ⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️⛰️rating for readers of all ages.