Just So Stories

Allen & Unwin

March 2026

ISBN:9781761181764

Publisher:A&U Children’s

Imprint:A & U Children

The incomparable Janeen Brian never fails to provide us with utter joy and here is the latest example of her lyrical talent. I’ve said before Janeen’s was one of the first author names to make me take note wayyyyyy back when I was beginning my t-l career (Pilawuk – When I Was Young, 1996) and over the years she has continued to delight me with her range and depth of writing [which is why I was so fangirl and almost tongue-tied when we finally met face to face in Adelaide a couple of years ago!].

This simply beautiful book speaks to those children who love to have their own secret, private place. That refuge from things that annoy or upset them, that happy place where they can daydream, that top-of-the-Faraway-Tree where they can let their imagination soar, that calm where they can just be.

As a child I was mostly fairly solitary myself. My sister and brother were much older and while I had cousins on both sides within close radius, on a day-to-day basis we were all at our own homes. So I had a lot of time for myself and my imagination from the time I was quite tiny.

After spending a lot of time in our dog’s very large kennel, my Father Bear provided a huge wooden crate from a truck part which we made my cubby, but I also had a secret spot up the top of our huge front yard conifer where I spent a lot of time (mostly imagining I was part of the Famous Five or Secret Seven!). An indoor favourite was upending the tri-fold large wooden clothes airer and making a blanket fort.

While it’s true that children today spend much of their time on screens, in activities or sports etc, it is also still true that many of them also have time for imaginative play or secret places where ‘No adults allowed’ rules.

As such, this book will appeal to many young readers from smaller ones in Prep right up to mid-primary at least and educators or parents can encourage their readers to think of their own special places.

I would love to see children write, draw and map their own special places either imagined or real or ‘dream cubby’ style. Janeen’s evocative text employs gentle rhyming with some beautiful descriptive language (an excellent teaching point right there) and Hilary’s illustrations are a perfect match, being somewhat subdued but full of detail of movement and expression. The mix of full double-spreads interspersed with smaller vignettes and lots of white space is extremely effective.

On my daily walks, as I mix and match my routes, there is always something interesting to see and two of these are now abandoned play houses. One is a tree-house – almost falling to pieces and the other, only recently discovered, is this little darling tucked away in the corner of a yard among the trees and backed by a little garden of whimsy. I can just see that there are still some remainders of the contents of this little corner that was once ‘Belly’s House’ and makes me wonder who Belly was and how long ago she played there. A story in the making perhaps?

Sadly, I don’t think I could ever create a narrative as wonderful of this one but I guess I could try. Don’t hesitate to put this one on your list if you haven’t already. The sharing could lead to many wonderful conversations as well as creative writing, art and imaginative play for your readers from Prep to Year 5/6 (find out where those older readers do their dreaming). It’s a poetic 5 🏘️🏘️🏘️🏘️🏘️rating for this treasure.