Just So Stories

Woodslane Press

March 2026

ISBN: 9781923350151

RRP: $24.99

Once again Myke Mollard brings his passion for the natural world and, especially, our own Australian animals to young readers in an informative, engaging and entertaining format. Sharks have been very much in the news again over summer and I, for one, have been well-pleased at the number of kids’ books that have come through that are celebrating rather than demonising these wonderful creatures.

Along with the graceful rays and skates – which, I freely admit, I have difficulty telling apart! – this is a terrific look at an aspect of marine life that readers from Smalls to older kiddos will find quite fascinating.

Aside from Myke’s stunning illos, I love that the information is beautifully chunked making this accessible text for any reader, even those reluctant ones, those who struggle with their reading or those who might find large blocks of text daunting.

This is a reliable feature in all Myke’s books I have found and one I know is well favoured by young readers. Someone of my acquaintance commented that they were disappointed these books had no index or glossary ‘as a good non-fiction book should’. Well, even as a teacher-librarian, often Head of Library, I take exception to that. NOT every non-fiction book needs to have those because sometimes we just want our kids to read and absorb incidental learning for the pure enjoyment of it – and not so we can point out virtuously ‘look in the index’.

This is more like a beautiful picture book that happens to have factual text rather than fiction – so deal with it, purists! I would rather hand one of Myke’s books to my readers hoping that they too will develop a passion for our wildlife, than because I want them to know how an index works.

The Kid tossed up between swimming with sharks and swimming with whales for her birthday treat but I’ve opted for whales – we can do the sharks later. But I also want to take her to the shark ‘petting’ place on the southside sometime this year.

I remember well when I team-taught with a young woman who also worked part-time at what was then Underwater World at Mooloolaba and when I visited her there, she took me ‘backstage’ as it were. We were on the catwalk that ran along the top of the famous tunnel and as a huge white pointer drifted past, she encouraged me to reach out and pat it. Now that’s an experience you don’t forget!!

For someone who’s been fascinated by animals since she was a toddler, these are exactly the type of books I wish we’d had when K was growing up. For me, it’s the gorgeous grey nurses, hammerheads and wobbegongs, so familiar from my childhood in Sydney, that I loved reading about.

You will find that many of your readers will absolutely delight in this and what a perfect segue into conversations about being safe in the ocean, why sharks and the like are important to the ecosystem and why they are so unjustly villified. I give it a HUGE 🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈rating for all primary-aged kiddos.

SEA Life, formerly Underwater World, at Mooloolaba – always worth another visit!

Surfer carries a shark back out to sea at a beach on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road