Just So Stories

Allen & Unwin

March 2026

ISBN:9781761181252

Publisher:A&U Children’s

Imprint:A & U Children

Trace Balla’s work always fills me with both admiration and emotion, and I think really, this one is the best yet as it is the most intensely personal as well, outlining the journey of Trace from child to present.

Leaf-light (2023) and Rivertime (2014) are the only two of Trace’s I’ve reviewed but I have read all of them and loved them. I have especially tender memories of Shine when it was released at the very right moment to share it with The Kid when we lost her mother.

When so many of us are expressing real concerns about the degradation of our environment, particularly because of the multi-nationals and moguls, Trace has been a stalwart in the action for preserving our natural resources since a very young age. Her dedication and respect for Country, her willingness to learn from others, her generous spirit in creating to serve a purpose and not just for monetary gain – all this is woven throughout this graphic memoir with an honesty and sensitivity that is powerfully moving.

The experiences and learning that have so profoundly shaped her work, and indeed her very being, are outlined through her always recognisable style, channeling ideas and philosophy going right back to the 80s and the fight to save Jabiluka. It was her involvement with this action that fully awakened her burning passion for expressing her thoughts, beliefs and protests via her art in meaningful and ethical ways. Perhaps she’d like to help out with the current Glasshouse Mountains action?

While I was fully engrossed in this, as always with Trace’s work, it begs re-reading more than once to fully capture all the marvellous details in the illustrations and, also, to completely absorb and internalise the themes and philosophy imbued within the text. For your upper primary students and also secondary studies, it’s a valuable resource in multiple ways: environment, social issues, resources/mining, ethics, personal stories, visual arts, art activism and the power of literature.

There are teaching notes which are fairly generic in structure but you may well find some ideas in them but realistically I see your best use of this as an adjunct to your established UoIs and as a spark for rich discussions around the themes. Needless to say it’s a 5 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳rating and one I will be talking up to plenty of people.