Just So Stories

Walker Books Australia

August 2025

ISBN13:9781760659721

Australia RRP:$19.99

New Zealand RRP:$24.99

This is a terrific fun and fascinating read for your kiddos from around Year 3 to Year 5/6 who like this type of quick grab info books. Each topic covered starts off with a fallacy and then provides 3 actual facts about the subject.

For example: FALSE! Goldfish have a three-second memory. FACT: Goldfish don’t have any eyelids FACT: Goldfish can’t taste anything FACT: Not all goldfish are gold. You get the idea.

Some of the falsehoods are patently obvious [well, only to us adults perhaps] but are the type of urban myth or hearsay that kiddos hoard like chipmunks storing nuts e.g. Ninjas wore black or The five-second rule.

Some of these are spread by playground rumour, others are perpetuated by TV and movies but they are all interesting and the actual facts are as well. It is exactly the type of book that a reluctant reader who does not want to spend precious time locked into a book will pick up happily for a quick-fix read that will satisfy a teacher or librarian, and it is exactly the type of book that can easily hook that reader into reading the entirety and then perhaps going in search of Dan Marshall’s other books.

I give it a QI 5 🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠 [remember NOT all goldfish are gold!] rating and suggest it would be an ideal book for any kiddo’s stocking.