Just So Stories

Winner of the Newbery Medal

Bloomsbury

August 2026

ISBN	9781547605897
Imprint	Bloomsbury Children’s Books

RRP: $19.99

This is such a beautiful and poignant verse/prose novel that explores grief as it impacts on a young person. And yes, we know that happens often and even just this year, I’ve had several books in which a child has lost a parent or other. And, then there is my own circumstance, of losing my adult child, but her own child being left motherless. And those are all tragic losses and the grief journey is hard.

But in this book, 13-year-old Sage has lost her best friend – suddenly, unexpectedly and violently in a shocking hit-and-run – and her struggle with that grief is not like that of the others in her ‘grief group’ e.g. such as knowing a grandmother is frail and terminally ill.

Sage is not just trying to get through her grief but her guilt around the entire incident because, if not for her selfish insistence that her friend be with Sage for the entire day to celebrate her 13th birthday, the accident would never have happened.

It is Sage’s first experience with this raw grief that breaks our hearts and leaves us numb, and angry, and reclusive, and sullen, and despairing, and guilty – and helpless.

But slowly, the two girls in the grief group with whom she has at least felt some connection steadily become more than fellow grievers, and become new friends. The three of them who all have similar experiences and know the pain of loss can bond together, combine their strengths and resilience and support each other’s journey.

It is a truly epically beautiful book and particulaly well suited to thoughtful readers. It is easy to see why this was awarded so highly across so many lists. I can’t recommend it highly enough – 5 💙💙💙💙💙rating for readers from around 11/12 upwards.

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year | A Kirkus Best Book of the Year | A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year | A Chicago Public Library Best Kids’ Book of the Year | A PEN America’s Best Children’s Books | An NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book | A Horn Book Fanfare Selection Book | A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book | Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book