Just So Stories

UQP

June 2026

ISBN: 9780702271137

RRP: $17.99

I was already keen to read this one and when I started in and realised it is set in Wakka Wakka country, immediately felt a connection. My first teaching post in 1994 was Nanango SS – yes, on Wakka Wakka lands – so for several years I taught jarjums who were of the local mob as well as non-Indigenous students and, right from that start, my teaching both in the classroom for four years and then the library always embedded cross-cultural perspectives.

Joey Gibbs and his family have moved back ‘home’ to be near family in Coolibah Creek. It’s a fresh start for Joey after some big trouble at his last school. It’s all a bit angst-making for Joey but he is determined to keep himself in everybody’s good books. But there are problems from the start including the class bully though for the most part, that’s one that he can ignore.

It’s when a strange little hairy creature suddenly keeps popping up and causing mayhem that Joey’s problems really accelerate. The junjardy is a creature of traditional First Nations Dreaming stories – a trickster that causes mischief and is especially attracted to children. As Joey is a bit of a prankster himself, his connection with the junjardy suits him just fine. Until, that is, the junjardy starts taking things to real extremes and it looks like Joey is really in deep trouble again.

Throughout, the reader will easily make connections with Joey, whether they are Indigenous or not, as he tries so hard to keep things on an even keel: his growing friendship with like-minded Beth who is also on the ‘fringe’, the discord impacting his usual happy relationship with his younger sister Peggy, and maintaining at least some attention to schoolwork.

But essentially, it is his growing connection with Country especially via his Uncle Eddie, the wise Elder who makes a great counsel and teacher, that threads throughout the narrative and eventually empowers Joey as he struggles to emerge from peccadilloes and cases of mistaken identity.

While there is plentiful rich and often raucous humour threaded throughout, which will have readers laughing loudly, there is much to pull out of the layers here, which would make it a superb shared read for any middle/upper primary class.

It is not just First Nations kiddos who will make connections to this struggle to find one’s feet in a different setting, nor the angst Joey feels about his own identity and being judged unfairly. Joey’s passion and skill for art which enables him to express himself, and his collaborations with new friend Beth, are a catalyst for his feelings and frustrations. It is a natural progression then that his difficulties, even with Bruno the bully, are smoothed out when his growing respect and understanding of his culture and Country begin to emerge in his art as well. Eventually, it is this which not only vindicates Joey but draws a community together in mutual respect and understanding.

I absolutely applaud this debut novel of Allison’s as she has brought all her own experience from teaching, Culture and her own childhood together to tell Joey’s story and, as always, Brenton’s comic illustrations are a perfect foil for this text. Looking for a great read-aloud for your kiddos that will also draw out some choice discussion topics? Then this could easily be the fresh new voice you’re looking for. Fabulous all round – it’s a 5 🖤💛❤️🪃👣 rating for this terrific newbie.