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    Just So Stories
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    Just So Stories
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    Just So Stories
    Ebook205 pages2 hours

    Just So Stories

    By Rudyard Kipling, Paul Bransom and J. M. Gleeson

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    For Mowgli movie fans, the must-have companion to The Jungle Book!

    Children all around the world are fascinated by the animal kingdom, and that’s what makes the Just So Stories a perennial classic… Elephants, kangaroos, cats, leopards, and more. This complete volume of Rudyard Kipling’s masterpiece includes all 12 original stories:

  • How the Whale Got His Throat
  • How the Camel Got His Hump
  • How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin
  • How the Leopard Got His Spots
  • The Elephant’s Child
  • The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo
  • The Beginning of the Armadillos
  • How the First Letter was Written
  • How the Alphabet was Made
  • The Crab that Played with the Sea
  • The Cat that Walked by Himself
  • The Butterfly that Stamped

    Kipling first entertained his own children with these delightful and humorous tales before deciding to write them down for publication. The parables are written in the form of what came to be known as “why” stories, each explaining how and why certain things came to be as they are.

    In addition to these clever fables, this volume features thirteen full-color illustrations and more than thirty black-and-white illustrations by J. M. Gleeson and Paul Bransom, as well as several images created by Kipling himself. With their entertaining characters and well-executed narrative arcs, the Just So Stories are perfect for readers both young and old—to read separately and, more importantly, together.
    • LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRacehorse
    Release dateSep 20, 2016
    ISBN9781944686451
    Author

    Rudyard Kipling

    Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), India, but returned with his parents to England at the age of five. Among Kipling’s best-known works are The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, and the poems “Mandalay” and “Gunga Din.” Kipling was the first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1907) and was among the youngest to have received the award. 

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    Reviews for Just So Stories

    4/5

    987 ratings34 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I just love these stories. They remind me of my childhood, and in their whole style and structure they're just made to be read aloud. In a very childlike way I want to nod sagely and tell the world, "yes, that's how it must have been that the elephant got its trunk or the camel its humps!" after every story.
    • 5/5
      Every child should know these stories, although some of Kipling's attitudes may need to be discussed.
    • 5/5
      I never actually read these as a kid. I remember having them read to me, but I never read them for myself. Which, as Phillip Pullman says in the introduction, is a shame, because they're wonderfully playful and easy to read, and even if there are words you don't understand (there weren't, for me now, but when I was little...) they're bright and lively and I can bet I'd have had more fun imagining what they might mean than actually finding out. These stories were definitely the kind I couldn't help but whisper to myself. I think they'd make even a non-synesthetic taste the words. I enjoyed the illustrations and the notes that went with them, too. In general they were just playful and fun to read, even now I'm all growed up. I especially liked the armadillo one, but perhaps that's because it included a character called Stickly-Prickly Hedgehog, and I do adore hedgehogs. The next one we rescue in our garden will have to be called Stickly-Prickly, I think.
    • 4/5
      My favourite was ‘How the Camel Got His Hump’. The stories are short and funny, and each have a little message or something for the reader to think about. We have an edition illustrated by the author and he’s written lovely captions too.I’m so glad we own a copy of this one as I’m sure they are stories we’ll read again. And again. And again as each child grows into them.
    • 2/5
      I didn't bother to finish this book - had really expected more of it but actually the stories are not the kind of golden childhood story that you get with many other classic children's authors. This particular copy of the book has illustrations in it and large paragraphs that are placed as subtext in the middle or bottom of the page so they are somewhat interrupting. I just found much of the book nonsensical, but not in a good way. I think the concept had more potential than the stories actually were able to unfold into.
    • 4/5
      Okay, I know that there is a racist element to this book, which I agree is terrible and hard to understand. That being said, I did like the stories and I enjoyed sharing them with my daughter. They are a compilation of "how things came to be", like how the camel got it's hump, how the elephant got it's trunk, and how to make your wives fall into line (umm..., that last one might also be not so appropriate...). Kipling uses a lot of repetition which my daughter loved, and was really effective in the storytelling. And his use of addressing the reader as "my Best Beloved" equally was effective with her (and me too, if I'm being truthful!) Again, full acknowledging that some of this is not appropriate now, or then, I still think this is a good read to share with your children. Maybe just do some editing first!
    • 2/5
      A lot of these were re-printed in my 1963 World Book Encyclopaedia children's extra set (ten volumes covering famous places, people, classic stories, fables, general crafts and how-tos, etc). The elephant bit still gets me.
    • 5/5
      My grandmother gave me this book, and while Kipling's stock has fallen somewhat precipitously since her day, this (along with the Jungle Book) remains a brisk seller and a staple of bookstore children's departments. And it's not too difficult to see why, when you read it. It's delightful.The conceit is that of a collection of origin stories: "How the Leopard Got His Spots", "How the Camel Got His Hump", things along those lines. They are of course, absurd and whimsical, and one of the joys of them is that they are whimsical in an Edwardian way. There is a way of being silly and madcap that belongs properly to our own era, not too difficult to find, and you find yourself subconsciously expecting that sort of feel here. What you get is different, in a different tone, let's say. Almost like a familiar melody transposed into a different key. It's refreshing and fun. He's sort of made up his own sort of traditional-storytelling diction, as well, which works like a charm.The best story, for my money, is "The Elephant's Child", but there are few true stinkers here. A true classic that deserves to be rediscovered.
    • 5/5
      This is truly magnificent. I can;t wait to finish listening to this. Geoffrey Palmer is FANTASTIC reading these stories. And the music that goes along with them are so sweet. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Palmer, or who has children. I could see listening to this with kids on a family vacation long drive. It is about 3.5 hrs long.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books you'd wish you'd read as a child...so you could, in turn, read to your OWN child. I would LOVE to have read this to PJ as a baby. The stories are enchanting and written very much as if Kipling were speaking to his own daughter, and each is more fascinating than the last, presenting fanciful explanations for commonplace questions, like, how the Camel got his hump. Or how the first letter was written. Or my favorite, what happened when the butterfly stamped his foot. Brilliant stuff, this, and it should be a part of every library...and on your list of books to read to YOUR child!
    • 5/5
      These are storoes I have loved since I was a small child. Phrases from them e.g. "tidy pachyderm" and "satiable curiosity" were part of the family's language
    • 5/5
      This is an all time classic, featuring lovely animal stories written by Mr Kipling. A perfect read for parents to read out to children on a rainy day or just before bed. My favorite ones include "The Beginning of the Armadillos" and "How the Elephant got his Trunk". The original illustrations are also an amazing addition to the book. Highly recommended
    • 4/5
      I only read two stories from Just So Stories, "How the First Letter was Written" and "How the Alphabet was Made." Both were incredibly fun to read, especially aloud. Kipling pokes fun at the stereotypes of parents and children with names like, "Lady-who-asks-a-very-many-questions" for the mother and "Small-person-with-out-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked" for the child. In both stories the theme is the need for better communication skills and are meant to be read together. The first letter makes up the alphabet later on and one story is a continuation of the other. Rumor has it that both "How the First Letter was Written" and "How the Alphabet was Made" started out as oral stories, told to Kipling's daughter Josephine in 1900.
    • 3/5
      Done in the style of fables, but about the length of traditional fairy tales (think Grimm or Perrault). The animals in the fables encompass creatures from all over the world (India, Africa, Amazon off the top of my head). I'd say about half the stories captures my attention (and maybe imagination). It feels a bit dated, even though nothing really sets it off (no outmoded language or horrible stereotypes). A decent collection.
    • 4/5
      A nice little collection of short stories that tell why this or that animal is the way it is. Amusing tales written with a very engaging style. Check it out, O Best Beloved. Read it to your kids or something.--J.
    • 2/5
      Children's stories, published in 1902, that provide fantasy explanations for the origin of things - animal features, writing etc. Famous as children's stories, they also provide the epithet for tendentious evolutionary reasoning. Interesting. Also my first book read on the lap-top from a Project Gutenburg text. On-screen reading is not as easy as it should seem! Read March 2009
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed these so much that I was crushed when I realized I had listened to the last story. The narrator was Geoffrey Palmer - I now have another reason to think he is marvelous, he was such a storyteller.
    • 5/5
      eBook

      I've never read Kipling, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

      I'm not sure where I got that idea, because it was wrongwrongwrong. He is so ... flippant? Insouciant? Sassy?

      This book was a delight to read, and as charming as it is, I was also surprised by its brutality. It's very subtle, but almost all these stories revolve around moments of terrible physical peril. This was most notable and most threatening in "How the First Letter Was Written" as we watch the little girl put the stranger in great jeopardy simply by drawing a few ambiguous pictures. In most of the other stories, the threat seems a little more innocent (possibly because it involves animals rather than people), but it's always there, looming.
    • 4/5
      I will always love this book for the story The Elephant's Child. My father read this to me as a bedtime story and I will never forget him reading the portion of the story where the elephant's nose has been caught by the crocodile (oops, spoiler), and how my father would pinch his nose in order to change his voice to read that. Still makes me smile.
    • 5/5
      If you have never read this, do it now. I don't care how old you are, or how snobby. If you have even a modicum of imagination, the Just So stories are one of the great pleasure in life.
    • 5/5
      Written into my memory, with rhythm repeats and long words
    • 4/5
      A bizarre collection of fantastical explanations for things such as how the camel got his humps. Clever, and imaginative, useful in the classroom as vocabulary building, and how-to's, as well as creative writing. Some of Kipling's attitudes are questionable, and may need to be filtered.
    • 2/5
      Just So Stories was just so disappointing. Like Aesop's Fables with less fun to them and mostly lacking morals to the stories. The language was repetitive and very dated and boring. I've been told Kim is a very good book, so I'll give it a shot, but I don't have high hopes.
    • 4/5
      The stories are still quite entertaining to read. I will definitely read it to my children should I have any
    • 5/5
      Kipling's take on these stories, many of them ones he gleaned from the cultures around him, are lyrical and fun, and make for a great book. I wish I had had a copy of this one when I was a kid.
    • 3/5
      A lovely gift from a lovelier friend.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the most imaginative, playful, writerly books I have ever read. And re-read. Twenty-nine year-old Kipling wrote this collection of twelve stories in collaboration with his young daughter, Josephine. It is a series of fantastical accounts of creation and re-creation within the animal kingdom. For instance, it explains: "in the "squoggy marshy country somewhere in Africa," and "on the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River," the elephant got its long trunk when a crocodile got hold of his original "bulgy nose."

      I include this collection in the grand storytelling tradition of Fables Choisies and Aesop's Fables. And this particular edition is a gem because it includes the original illustrations, with which none other compare.

      As a writer, if ever I run short on words or inspiration, I need only re-visit one of these stories and the ideas start gushing.

      As a mother, I think this is one of the best books I ever read to my son. It shows children the value of words and artful play, and gives license to the unlimited scope of imagination.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful and wonderful. Works of genius by a man who freed himself enough that he could give himself up to that genius instead of trying to make sure that it came out perfectly. As pleasing as his other works are, none I've read can match the joy, humor, simplicity, and odd truth of these.Like children's literature should be, these stories never lose their humor or punch. Despite some redundancy with actual myths and some cases of artificially lowering complexity for children and hence growing transparent, eminently enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      I especially recommend these stories as read-alouds. The narration is written directly to the listener and the use of repetition make these stories ideal read-aloud material. There are 12 stories in the book and we've been reading one story every day. Many of the stories are fanciful tales of how an animal received one of it's special characteristics, such as How the Camel Got its Hump and these were our favourite ones. Ds 7yo just laughed and laughed through these and I enjoyed them just as much as he did. Lots of fun!
    • 3/5
      Cute stories of how the animals got to be who they are...