Just! is a series of
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
collections by Australian
children's author
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
Andy Griffiths, illustrated by
Terry Denton
Terry Denton (born 26 July 1950) is an Australian illustrator and author. He is married and has three children. He is the second youngest of five boys and was born and grew up in Melbourne, Victoria. Denton now lives in Mornington, Victoria.
Den ...
. The book series is based on Andy Griffiths's early life. The series has been described as a portrayal of the antics of a pre-teen who "thinks outside the box", and is a "notorious mischiefmaker" who plans various pranks and schemes to dodge doing a chore or going to school, among other things. There have been nine books in the series, with the first book, ''
Just Tricking!
''Just Tricking!'' is the first volume in the ''Just!'' series written by Andy Griffiths. Around the world, the book was released with different titles: ''Just Kidding!'' for the United Kingdom and ''Just Joking!'' for North America.
Sto ...
'', being released in Australia in 1997. It was later released in North America under the alternative title ''Just Kidding''. The Canadian
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
''
What's with Andy?
''What's with Andy?'' (''Sacré Andy !'' in French) is an animated children's television series loosely based on the semi-autobiographical ''Just!'' book series by Australian author Andy Griffiths. The animated series was primarily produced by Can ...
'', which ran on
Teletoon
Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
from 2001 to 2007, was also loosely based on this book series.
Background
The author, Andy Griffiths, began writing when he was in the fifth grade. He purchased a typewriter at a second-hand stall at school and created his own magazine, which he sold at school for less than five cents. He then continued writing at high school, but for the school magazine. At university he studied English and American literature and wrote songs for his own rock band, and then went on to study to become a teacher. During his life as a teacher, he began publishing humorous books as the precursor to the “Just!” series.
![Andy Griffiths 2019 Texas Book Festival](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Andy_Griffiths_2019_Texas_Book_Festival.jpg)
Griffiths and his illustrator, Terry Denton, spend their collaborative working time in a studio behind Griffiths’ house, which is decorated with gadgets, toys, a children’s book library, a swimming pool, and bowling alley, much like an imagination of a children’s bedroom. They “push each other to new levels” and “drive each other to ever greater levels of silliness and creativity”. Both Griffiths and Denton believe that through their work, books are equally as entertaining for modern children as electronic medium and offer a ‘personalised imaginative experience’ that will vary between children, allowing for individualised creativity.
Denton studied architecture for a short while before leaving University to experiment in the fields of animation, theatre, painting, and cartooning. Denton’s work has been described as “playful, noisy, humorous, colourful, dramatic, and challenging the reader’s lateral thinking”. He has won various awards for his work as both a writer and illustrator during his career, dating back to 1983, when he realised he had an “urge to write”.
Six children's choice awards were presented to Griffiths in 2008 for the book ''
Just Shocking!
''"Just Shocking!"'' is the sixth book released of the "Just!" series by Andy Griffiths. Released in late September 2007 in Australia, it tells 10 short but shocking stories about Andy.
The book won a BILBY Award in the Younger Readers categor ...
'', making him the first Australian author to be awarded so.
Style
Griffiths describes kids’ literature as “either lame or really old-fashioned”, as children, especially in countries outside North America, were being exposed to North American entertainment such as ''The Simpsons'' and were increasingly using electronic media. Griffiths also believes his books should reflect his interests in rock and roll, comedy, and pop culture, and in this way, they would be engaging for a modern audience.
Griffiths’ books are also described as being “transitional material for children between 7 and 10 years old”, particularly due to his use of “child-safe humour” through the recurrence of fart jokes and silly puns, and fewer illustrations than many children’s books.
Shaun Tan from ''The Iowa Review'' writes that most people believe that the books that most influence them and have made the most impact on the imagination are children’s books or books read during childhood, and that “artists, publishers, booksellers and educators
houldroll up
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
sleeves and get down to the business of making good books".
Mark Macleod notes that much of the stories in ''Just Tricking'' deal with the day-to-day lives of the target audience, school-aged children, such as avoiding going to school, and the subsequent battle between parent and child and ultimately, who wins in such a scenario.
Reception
Andrew McMichael from Western Kentucky University writes:
“The idea is to appeal to their sense of the absurd and crazy, and to push (but not cross) the boundaries of what their parents might consider socially acceptable. The books seem to take the socially accepted norms that kids are forced into in their early years and twist them.”
Mark Macleod writes in ''The interdisciplinary Press'' that ''Just Tricking'', the first book in the series, is “fiction for a generation whose favourite response to any lack of resolution is the shrug, ‘whatever’”. Macleod also describes the first-person-tense of the book as ‘problematic’, as it confuses the stories as autobiographical, thus it is unclear if the stories are the ‘adult author’s past recollected’ or joking ideal of the adult author who dodges their way through life ‘as if he were an oversized kid’.
Thus Macleod describes the character in the books, Andy, as ‘living in the elusive space between the creator and the text’.
Details of the series
''
Just Tricking!
''Just Tricking!'' is the first volume in the ''Just!'' series written by Andy Griffiths. Around the world, the book was released with different titles: ''Just Kidding!'' for the United Kingdom and ''Just Joking!'' for North America.
Sto ...
''
Alternate Titles: ''Just Joking!'' and ''Just Kidding!''
Released: 1997
This book begins by asking to take the "Tricking Test" to find out if the book is suitable, scoring one point for each 'yes' answer to questions such as playing dead to avoid going to school, pretending to be someone else on the phone, leaving banana skins on footpaths, whether or not you own rubber vomit or fake dog poo, and if you wish it were April Fool's Day every day. Humourously, whether you scored 0 or 5, it says you will love this book.
''
Just Annoying!
''Just Annoying'' is a short story collection by children's author and comedian Andy Griffiths. It is the second in the ''Just'' series. The stories, as expected from the title, recounts more short stories where Andy annoys everyone with his ama ...
''
Released: 1998
A ''Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' review stated that "Denton's scribbled pen illustrations fill up the margins on every page, with jokes, bizarre flip book animations and other absurdities".
''
Just Stupid!
Just! is a series of short story collections by Australian children's author Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton. The book series is based on Andy Griffiths's early life. The series has been described as a portrayal of the antics of a p ...
''
Released: 1999
''Just Stupid!'' is the third book in the ''Just!
Just! is a series of short story collections by Australian children's author Andy Griffiths (author), Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton. The book series is based on Andy Griffiths's early life. The series has been described as a portray ...
'' series by Andy Griffiths. It contains various silly short stories, about things such as snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
-shell repairing, baby pram riding, and nonsensical dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
s. The book received a BILBY Award in the Younger Readers category in 2000.
''
Just Crazy!
''Just Crazy'' (renamed ''Just Wacky'' in Canada), is the fourth book in the ''Just!'' series by Andy Griffiths, published by Pan Macmillan Australia. It contains nine short stories centred around Andy Griffiths.
The book won the BILBY Award ...
''
Alternative Title: ''Just Wacky!''
Released: 2000
Similarly to the first title in the series, ''Just Tricking!'', the book asks readers to take the "Crazy Test", asking questions like "do you look in the mirror and see a crazy maniac staring back at you?" and "do you sometimes get the urge to take your clothes off and cover yourself in mud?"
''Just Three for Free!''
Released: 2000
This book contains three stories: Playing Dead, In The Shower With Andy, and Runaway Pram.
''Just Disgusting!''
Released: 2002
The test for this book asks if readers pick their nose, wear the same undies two days in a row and wee in swimming pools, among other disgusting things.
''Just Shocking!''
Released: 2007
Following a short break in releases in the series, this book asks if "you wish you could drive around in a monster truck crushing everybody and everything that gets in your way" and if watching videos of people getting involved in accidents is funny.
''
Just Macbeth!
''Just Macbeth'' is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play ''Macbeth''. It was written by Australian children’s author Andy Griffiths and produced by Bell Shakespeare as well as being released as a book.
Cast
Patrick Brammall as Andy
...
''
Released: 2009
A different concept from Griffiths and Denton, this book is an alternative version of ''Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. It was also produced by Bell Shakespeare
Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney.
The Bell Shakespeare vision is to create theatre that allows audiences of all wal ...
for the stage in various performances nationally, after Griffiths was commissioned by Bell Shakespeare in 2005 to adapt Macbeth for a younger audience.
It is structured as "part narrative, part theatre script" with stage directions and scripted lines, and acts and scenes are replaced by book chapters.
''Just Doomed!''
Released: 2012
The "Doomed Test" asks if you have ever broken a mirror, walked under a ladder or opened an umbrella inside, among other superstitious things.
References
{{Andy Griffiths
Book series introduced in 1997
Children's short story collections
Short story collections by Andy Griffiths
Series of children's books
Novels set in the 1970s
Australian non-fiction books
Pan Books books