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  • Published: 6 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448161492
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

Just So Stories

For Little Children




Find out why the rhino is so wrinkly and the cat so contrary. Kipling's weird and wacky stories are a must-read for everyone intrigued by the oddities of animals

'Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was'

Have you ever enquired why the elephant has such an enormously elongated nose? Are you confused by a cat's contrary nature? Have you ruminated on the wrinkles of a rhinocerous? Or speculated on a leopard's spots? Rudyard Kipling wondered about all these things too, and in this marvellous collection of stories he imagines how the animals became 'just so'.

Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can find out why Just So Stories is one of Philip Pullman’s favourite books and discover wacky facts about wild animals!

Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  • Published: 6 June 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448161492
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

Other books in the series

The New Penguin Book Of American Short Stories, From Washington Irving To Lydia Davis
A Dog's Heart
The Black Tulip
The Lady of the Camellias
Selected Poetry
On Sparta
Man and Superman
Saint Joan
Botchan
Military Dispatches

About the author

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, to British parents on December 30, 1865. In 1871 Rudyard and his sister, Trix, aged three, were left to be cared for by a couple in Southsea, England. Five years passed before he saw his parents again. His sense of desertion and despair were later expressed in his story "Baa Baa, Black Sheep" (1888), in his novel The Light That Failed (1890), and in his autobiography, Something of Myself (1937). As late as 1935, Kipling still spoke bitterly of the "House of Desolation" at Southsea: "I should like to burn it down and plough the place with salt." Kipling and his wife settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), and most of Captains Courageous (1897). By this time Kipling's popularity and financial success were enormous. In 1899 the Kiplings settled in Sussex, England, where he wrote some of his best books: Kim (1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. By the time he died, on January 18, 1936, critical opinion was deeply divided about his writings, but his books continue to be read by thousands.

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Praise for Just So Stories

Hilarious, lively stories...drawn from the storytelling traditions of India and Africa

Daily Express

The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling have always held a fascination for me, and doubtless sparked off my love of India

H.M The Prince of Wales

Today's children would do well to abandon their computers and iPods for an hour or two and read him

Griff Rhys Jones, Daily Mail

Weird and wonderful

Daily Telegraph