Just So Stories (Everyman's Library) by Rudyard Kipling, Rudyard Kipling (Illustrator)
BUY IT NEW
- $15.95 List price$12.76 Online price$11.48 Member price(Save 28%)Limited Time Offer! Everyone receives the Member Price on books.
See Details
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Hardcover)
- Pub. Date: November 1992
- 224pp
- Sales Rank: 48,508
Buy it Used: 20 copies from $1.99 See All Available
Customers who bought this also bought
Product Details
- Pub. Date: November 1992
- Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Format: Hardcover, 224pp
- Sales Rank: 48,508
- Series: Everyman's Library Children's Classics Series
- ISBN-13: 9780679417972
- ISBN: 0679417974
Synopsis
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.
Annotation
A collection of the well-known stories, including "How the Whale Got His Throat," "The Elephant's Child," and "The Butterfly That Stamped."
Children's Literature
I spent an enjoyable evening rereading Kipling's marvelous creation stories. His hungry whale and imperious butterfly came to life again, while "How the First Letter Was Written" and "How the Alphabet Was Made" reiterated the joys of discovery. Barry Moser's illustrations are very fine, with just the right touch of humor and slyness-particularly his disdainfully "humphing" camel. The only thing missing was an eager audience. These stories cry out to be read aloud, as Kipling himself once did for his own children.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
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 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.”
At twelve he entered a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. In Stalky and CO. (1899) the myopic Beetle is a self-caricature, and the days at Westward Ho are recalled with mixed feelings. At sixteen, eccentric and literary, Kipling sailed to India to become a journalist. His Indian experiences led to seven volumes of stories, including Soldiers Three (1888) and Wee Willie Winkie (1888).
At twenty-four he returned to England and quickly tuned into a literary celebrity. In London he became close friends with an American, (Charles) Wolcott Balestier, with whom he collaborated on what critics called a “dime store novel.” Wolcott died suddenly in 1891, and a few weeks later Kipling married Wolcott’s sister, Caroline. The newlyweds settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1895), and most of Captains Courageous (1897). By this time Kipling’s popularity and financial success were enormous.
In 1899 theKipling’s settled in Sussex, England, where he wrote some of his best books: Kim (1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pooks 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 continued to be read by thousands, and such unforgettable poems and stories as “Gunga Din,” “If,” “The Man Who Would Be King,” and “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” have lived on in the consciousness of succeeding generations.
Customer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 4Reviews: 3
- See All Reviews
Just So Stories (Everyman's Library)by Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
March 11, 2004: great way to learn something of the past. by listening to an authors words from the past to under stand the past
Just So Stories (Everyman's Library)by Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
October 29, 2002: Children love to hear the stories in this book. It is written like no other book I have read. Read it OUT LOUD and with enthusiasm. Listen to the sounds of the words from your own voice and you and your children will see why it is treasured.
Loading...