Just So Stories

Hachette Australia

July 2026

Imprint: Lothian Children’s Books

ISBN: 9780734423849

RRP $29.99

If you thought Jess’ Find Me on the Coast was beautiful, just wait till you see this one! Of course, The Kid and I love both the coast and the forests – we live beside the sea but spend time bushwalking through forest whenever we can.

The nerdy side of me loved this aspect of geography as well. I vividly remember a high school excursion with my geography class going up the Blue Mountains and noting the different types of forest as the elevation increased. And when you combine that kind of information with Jess’ always beautiful artwork, you know you have a real winner.

This one takes readers around the world to the various types of forests in different climate zones. From the boreal forests (taiga) close to the Arctic Circle – lands of snow and conifers, bears, wolves and caribou to the steamy equatorial jungles where the vivid parrots fly, the monkeys swing from branch to branch, the sloths acquire their green algae and the hummingbirds effortlessly hover and everything in between.

It’s a world trip of learning that young curious readers will absolutely lap up. You may have heard of redwood forests but did you know about cloud forests? That was a new definition for me. I love the fold out spreads that detail the changes of seasons! and there are some real stand-outs in the double spreads such as the foxes and the bushfires – so familiar a scene for many of us.

Jess’ talent with watercolours is so impressive [and with my recent dabbling in this medium via online sessions with Jess Racklyeft I know just how demanding this can be!]. The moods created for each different type of forest totally encapsulates their characteristic appearances and ‘feels’. The text is broken up into smaller chunks that younger readers will find especially manageable and is at no point just dry [sclerophyll!] information.

Jess also manages to allude to the need for us all to safeguard our precious forests (and planet) without ever resorting to didacticism. All in all it’s a wonderful wander through the world’s landscapes featuring forests of all types. I envisage easily that this will feature prominently on forthcoming awards lists and it is a highly appropriate addition to any collection, particularly suited to those environmental/geographical features UoI.

I would certainly not hesitate to use this right up to upper primary and cannot praise it highly enough – it’s a 5 🌳🍂🌲🌴🪾rating for readers from around Year 3.