Just So Stories

Scholastic Australia

December 2025

Imprint: Scholastic UK

ISBN: 9781761727023

ISBN-10: 1761727028

RRP: $19.95

This is loads of fun and gives Smalls a humorous viewpoint on being at school, as it explains from the kiddos’ perspective how a teacher works and what to expect. It’s a completely different approach to a ‘new to school’ book.

Whether it’s helping the poor teacher remember her numbers, or giving them practice in dealing with a child’s problem, there are numerous ways in which the Smalls go out of their way to be helpful each day.

What I especially love about this book, aside from the humour and the extremely cute illustrations, is the fact that there is so much evidence here of play-based learning. If only that still happened in our classrooms – quelle sigh… This will make an extremely enjoyable read in those first days of school, whether it’s for the first-timers or just to lighten the mood for your older Smalls in Year 1 or 2. It would be great fun to see what ideas they can come up with for ‘helping the teacher’. I have no doubt they could be very creative in their thinking!

This one easily gets a 5 🏫🏫🏫🏫🏫rating – intended for newbies but easily welcomed in Prep-Year 3 classrooms.