Just So Stories

Riveted Press

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

June 2026

ISBN13: 9781764256766

LIST PRICE: AU$ 12.99 / NZ$ 14.99

Hooray for #3 in the Lexie Moon series with this young inventor extraordinaire. In this new adventure, Lexie is constructing a ‘sauce bottle’ remote control car for an upcoming competition but is really having difficulties. Finding the second-hand components is one thing but when your creation gets smashed, then defaced by your little sister, and nothing seems to be going right, the whole invention process can get quite frustrating.

And then when it comes to the competition there is a really strange looking woman who somehow looks vaguely familiar and is definitely up to no good. When Lexie’s fantastic all-control transmitter, the Pro-Mote, goes missing there is definitely cause for alarm. And sure enough, things start going haywire as if they are being controlled by something or someone unseen. Could this be anything to do with that ghastly Gizmo Lightfingers, or is it somebody equally nefarious? The twist in that is well conceived.

It’s another fun romp with Lexie and her family, as well as friend Jamie. I loved meeting Aunt Agnes, who may be fussy but is the equal of Lexie (and Grandpa) in creativity, innovation and making good use of materials, just in a different way.

This would offer kiddos who are perhaps not inclined in a mechanical type way to get into ‘making’ of a different sort. Certainly, that’s something that was one of my most popular innovations in our library break programs, the weekly Clever Fingers session where the Smalls and up could learn everything from finger knitting to crochet, sewing to origami, crafting and creating of all kinds.

So many of us are concerned about the amount of screen time and kiddos, and this is a perfect series to wean them away from those and into something far more useful for their cognition, coordination and intrinsic satisfaction. Once again the design is appealing, with Lauren’s illustrations accompanying the text and the use of brief chapters and dynamic fonts are a real plus. This one is a 5 🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁 rating for readers from able Year 2s upwards.