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{{Infobox Novel series
| name = Just!
| books = [[Just Tricking!]]<br/>[[Just Annoying!]]<br/>[[Just Stupid!]]<br/>[[Just Crazy!]]<br/>[[Just Three for Free!]]<br/>[[Just Disgusting!]]<br/>[[Just Shocking!]]<br/>[[Just Macbeth!]]<br/>[[Just Doomed!]]
| author = [[Andy Griffiths (author)|Andy Griffiths]]
| image =
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}}
'''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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.andygriffiths.com.au/faq/|title=FAQ|date=8 August 2015 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/AndyGriffithsJustSeries |title=Andy Griffiths' Just Series}}</ref> There have been nine books in the series, with the first book, ''[[Just Tricking!]]'', being released in Australia in 1997. It was later released in North America under the alternative title ''Just Kidding''. The Canadian [[animated series]] ''[[What's with Andy?]]'', which ran on [[Teletoon]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKVJAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Just%21%22+andy+griffiths&pg=PA160&article_id=1376,696200 |title=Bangor Daily News |publisher=Bangor Daily News |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Andy Griffiths 2019 Texas Book Festival.jpg|thumb|Author of the ''"Just!"'' series, Andy Griffiths]]
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”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wood |first=Patrick |date=2016-08-09 |title=Behind the scenes in Andy Griffiths' and Terry Denton's treehouse |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-09/andy-griffiths-and-terry-dentons-treehouse/7703770 |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Terry Denton Books & Biography {{!}} Author {{!}} Dymocks |url=https://www.dymocks.com.au/authors/terry-denton |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=www.dymocks.com.au}}</ref> 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”.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Terry Denton - Allen & Unwin - Australia |url=https://www.allenandunwin.com/authors/d/terry-denton |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=www.allenandunwin.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Terry Denton Books & Biography {{!}} Author {{!}} Dymocks |url=https://www.dymocks.com.au/authors/terry-denton |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=www.dymocks.com.au}}</ref>
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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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzUqAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Just%21%22+andy+griffiths&pg=PA23 |title=Park City Daily News |publisher=Park City Daily News |language=en}}</ref>
[[Shaun Tan]]
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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Yumpu.com |title=Negotiating Childhoods - Inter-Disciplinary.Net |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/6119328/negotiating-childhoods-inter-disciplinarynet |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=yumpu.com |language=en}}</ref>
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== Reception ==
Andrew McMichael from Western Kentucky University writes:<blockquote>“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.”<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>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’.<ref name=":1" /> 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==
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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.
=== ''[[Just Annoying!]]'' ===
Released: 1998
A ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' review stated that "Denton's scribbled pen illustrations fill up the margins on every page, with jokes, bizarre flip book animations and other absurdities".<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Just Annoying! by Andy Griffiths |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780439424714 |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref>
=== ''[[Just Stupid!]]'' ===
Released: 1999
'''''Just Stupid!''''' is the third book in the ''[[Just!]]'' series by [[Andy Griffiths (author)|Andy Griffiths]]. It contains various silly short stories, about things such as [[snail]]-shell repairing, baby pram riding, and nonsensical [[dream]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Andy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErYWvAoiZ-kC |title=Just Stupid! |date=1999 |publisher=Pan |isbn=978-0-330-36148-4 |language=en}}</ref> The book received a [[BILBY Award]] in the Younger Readers category in 2000.<ref>[http://cbca.blob.core.windows.net/media/QLD/lists/Burrow%20of%20fame.pdf Bilby Burrow of Fame] cbca.blob.core</ref>
=== ''[[Just Crazy!]]'' ===
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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?"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Just Crazy! (Just Series Book 4) by Andy Griffiths |url=https://www.bigw.com.au/product/just-crazy-just-series-book-4-by-andy-griffiths/p/3461488 |access-date=2022-05-24 |website=BIG W |language=en-AU}}</ref>
=== ''Just Three for Free!'' ===
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This book contains three stories: Playing Dead, In The Shower With Andy, and Runaway Pram.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Just Three for Free |url=https://www.goodreads.com/work/70032408-just-three-for-free |access-date=2022-05-25 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}</ref>
=== ''[[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!]]'' ===
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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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |url=https://www.booktopia.com.au/just-shocking--andy-griffiths/book/9780330423533.html |title=Just Shocking!}}</ref>
=== ''[[Just Macbeth!]]'' ===
Released: 2009
A different concept from Griffiths and Denton, this book is an
It is structured as "part narrative, part theatre script"<ref name=":5" /> with stage directions and scripted lines, and acts and scenes are replaced by book chapters.
=== ''Just Doomed!'' ===
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The "Doomed Test" asks if you have ever broken a mirror, walked under a ladder or opened an umbrella inside, among other superstitious things.
</onlyinclude>
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{{Andy Griffiths}}
[[Category:Book series introduced in 1997]]
[[Category:Children's short story collections]]
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[[Category:Australian non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Pan Books books]]
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