Just So Stories

translated by Scotia Gilroy

New South Books

Publisher: Greystone Kids

September 2025

9781778402180

AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99

Last year I reviewed No 5. Bubblegum St from this same pair of creators in a week of ‘happy-ness’ reviews. This one seemed a perfect fit for today’s slightly bonkers books, and I love it just as much as I did the earlier book.

Leo and Kimbo [hah! one of my daughter’s nicknames] are besties. Even though they live way across town from each other, they get together almost every day. But today is extra special because it’s Kimbo’s birthday and Leo sets off to visit him. He has a grand plan to buy a birthday gift along the way. Who knew it would be such a mission?

Firstly, there’s a traffic jam holding up the entire city. But Leo presses on, having decided to go the bakery for some of Kimbo’s favourite cream puffs. Uggh! When he gets there Ladybug and Beetle are having one of their interminable quarrels about what to buy, so he gives up and leaves. Still no gift 😞. What on earth will he get for Kimbo?

In the meantime, as it happens, Kimbo has decided he wants to spend his birthday with his best friend so has set out from his side of town. First, he’s caught up in the annual Bug Parade, and gets diverted spending time with many of his other friends. Then he comes across the famous Robo-Dog performing in the park. But the robotic hounds breaks down and so Kimbo lends a hand hauling him to a repair shop. And on it goes.

The friends arrive at each other’s front door to find nobody at home after all their effort so what now? It’s a quick phone call and an agreed meeting spot to sort it out and salvage the day.

This is, once again, a riotous kaleidoscope of colour and cartoon. There’s a suggestion of Richard Scarry about it from the publisher and I can totally see that but I find these illos and the narratives far more amusing and quirkier than those. I said last year, that I love the distinctly European feel about this style, and I can’t really explain that but you would recognise it once you see it.

There is so much detail and subtle humour in both text and images for kiddos to explore that this has real depth, beyond some of the very much more banal and slight picture books I see regularly – check out the sample pages to get some idea. I love Robo-Dog’s rhyming rap and the Bug Parade’s placards, but it’s all fantastic fun.

It’s a huge 5 🐱🦋🎁🦋🐱rating for readers from around Year 2 – Year 3/4 but perfect for a read-aloud for younger ones. I really hope to see more of this pair’s exceptional work.