Just So Stories

Publisher: Magabala Books

Distributor: Hachette

Oct 14, 2025 | 9781922864048 | RRP $27.99

We’re staying with the sea, long trips and grandparents for this one with the setting switched to the far north of the Kimberley region, and a little place called Wyndham.

When the authors lived in Broome, there were regular visits to Wyndham with their children, to visit Nana Phyllis. Now their many drives across the beautiful Kimberley landscape have become an inspiration for their stories.

Gloriously illustrated by Karen Briggs, this one combines number concepts with some fabulous vocabulary extension as readers note a wide variety of different words that are synonyms for ‘looking’, as well as adjectives and rhyme.

So, essentially, as well as being a delightful story in itself, which will easily segue into shared recounts of adventures with grandparents or fishing trips (and the one that got away) this could easily become a valuable literacy session and follow-up writing activity, as well as some potential art recreating some of this fabulous scenery and the animals mentioned.

I absolutely love the mud map endpapers! and why not include a virtual trip to the Kimberley? Here’s one I’ve included in teaching notes previously. It’s a 5 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣for this beauty for jarjums from Prep to around Year 3.