Just So Stories: 100th Anniversary Edition - Softcover

Kipling, Rudyard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451531507 ISBN 13: 9780451531506

Publisher: Signet, 2010

Synopsis

A classic collection of fantastic tales from the author of The Jungle Books, in honor of his 150th birthday.

Cats and kangaroos, crabs and camels, whales and jaguars, hedgehogs and leopards, magicians and little children, and many other beings are brought to life in an exotic Eastern landscape during “the High and Far-Off Times.” Drawn from the wondrous tales told to Kipling as a child by his Indian nurses, Just So Stories creates the magical enchantment of the dawn of the world, when animals could talk and think like people. The laziness of the Camel, the curiosity of the Elephant’s Child, the cleverness of the Hedgehog, the confusion of the Painted Jaguar, and all the rest of Kipling’s delightful menagerie make Just So Stories unforgettable reading for generations to come.

With Illustrations by the Author

With an Introduction by Avi and an Afterword by Shashi Deshpande
 

About this title

From the Back Cover:

How did the camel get his hump? Why won't cats do as they are told? Who invented reading and writing? How did an inquisitive little elephant change the lives of elephants everywhere? Kipling's imagined answers to such questions draw on the beast fables he heard as a child in India, as well as on folk games with language, exploring the relationships between thought, speech, and the written word. He also celebrates his own joy in fatherhood. The tales were told to his own and his friends' children over many years before he wrote them down, adding poems and his own illustrations. They invite older and younger readers to share a magical experience, each contributing to the other's pleasure, but each can also enjoy them alone, as more jokes, subtexts, and exotic references emerge with every reading. This fully illustrated edition includes two extra stories and Kipling's own explanation of the title.

From the Inside Flap:

Kipling's own drawings, with their long, funny captions, illustrate his hilarious explanations of How the Camel Got His Hump, How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin, How the Armadillo Happened, and other animal How's. He began inventing these stories in his American wife's hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont, to amuse his eldest daughter--and they have served ever since as a source of laughter for children everywhere.

About this edition

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0451531507
• ISBN 13: 9780451531506
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 176