Just So Stories

• Publisher: Affirm Kids (September 30, 2025)
• Simon & Schuster Australia
• ISBN13: 9781923046818
• RRP:  AU$ 24.99 / NZ$ 29.99

It’s pretty apt I think that on the first day of this year’s Aussie Bird Count (time of writing 20/10) I should pick up this one to review. Mind you, I am a daily bird watcher. My walk especially in the afternoons is usually one punctuated by twitching and it’s always exciting to see some different species than our habitual cormorants, pelicans, darters, lorikeets and magpies.

Having seen some of this creator’s work already, I expect to see some quality illustrations with details that invite a reader to peruse at length, and this one is no different. They are delightful.

When Magpie Mum finds an egg that is not of her own hatching in her nest, she sets off around the neighbourhood to see if any of her feathered friends are missing one.

At the start, I thought it might be a cuckoo [we’ve only ever seen one – poor noisy miner parent half the size of the ‘baby’ trying to keep up the food demand] but was happy to see the outcome of the egg belonging to a tawny frogmouth.

Frogmouths do build their own nests but these are pretty haphazard affairs and prone to falling to bits so it’s quite conceivable that if one were in need of somewhere lay an egg in a hurry – well, any port in a storm I guess.

It is quite fun for children, who are invariably interested in nature, to see the differences in eggs from the various birds featured.

The text is rhyming, although not especially rhythmic, which will be a good conversation point with your kiddos as well. Another one that will fit nicely into your units on Living Things, Life Cycles or even Neighbourhoods. It’s a 4 🥚🥚🥚🥚from me for kiddos from EC up to around Year 3.