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Just So Stories

Just So Stories

'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.

Reviews

  • 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

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About the Author

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in India on 30 December 1865. He was sent back to England when he was seven years old but returned to India in 1882 to work as the assistant editor of the Civil & Military Gazette in Lahore. He published poetry and stories in newspapers but it was the publication of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888 that brought him his first major success. His most famous works are Barrack-room Ballads (1892), The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and Just So Stories (1902). The Just So Stories were written for his children and are addressed to his six-year-old daughter Josephine, his 'best beloved', who died of pneumonia in 1899. Rudyard Kipling died on 18 January 1936.

Rudyard Kipling

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Extracts

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling's classic book follows young Mowgli, a boy raised in the jungle by wolves. As he grows up, Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther teach Mowgli the 'Law of the Jungle', and how he must avoid the vicious jaws of tiger Shere Khan...
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