Just So Stories

Penguin Australia

June 2026

• ISBN: 9781761622472
• Imprint: Penguin
• RRP: $16.99

If there is one sure thing to brighten up a bleak, chilly winter’s night (or day) it is the one, the only Nanny Piggins along with her family: Boris, her bear brother, and the children for whom she slaves day and night to feed, clothe, keep clean, educate – oh wait a minute! I mean the children she allows to miss regular days of school, feeds up on copious amounts of cake and hot chocolate and never fails to both confuse and entertain in equal measure.

Now the time is ripe to introduce the juniors to some serious classical history and literature via, naturally, her own family history. This is the real unvarnished and unaltered version of Odysseus’ journey that Homer completely ignored [of course, the patriarchy writing all females out of herstory – we know how it goes!].

The fact of the matter is that 3000 years ago the whole long wanderings of one of the most famous of all travellers in history were undertaken by a female, and that female was, of course, a Piggins – would you ever doubt it?

As always, mingled in amongst Nanny’s extravagantly extraordinary retellings are actual nuggets of fact [ok, so as factual as your average Greek myth can be] liberally laced with chocolate and the Piggins flair but that just makes the facts more palatable, wouldn’t you agree?

Each chapter relates a different episode in the Odyssey and between each are some fascinating Fun Facts, which I particularly enjoyed. My quota of snort laughs was filled and it was another hugely enjoyable romp along with the Porcine Queen, the one and only herself, greatest Nanny any kids ever had. Nanny Piggins never fails to deliver the goods and is always one of my favourite reads. No question this gets trotters down 5 🐷🐷👑🐷🐷rating for readers from around year 4 upwards.