Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling

Publisher Marketing: The Just So Stories for Little Children are a collection written by the British author Rudyard Kipling. Highly fantasised origin stories, especially for differences among animals, they are among Kipling's best known works. The stories, first published in 1902, are origin stories, fantastic accounts of how various phenomena came about. A forerunner of these stories is Kipling's "How Fear Came," included in his The Second Jungle Book (1895). In it, Mowgli hears the story of how the tiger got his stripes. The Just So Stories typically have the theme of a particular animal being modified from an original form to its current form by the acts of man, or some magical being. For example, the Whale has a tiny throat because he swallowed a mariner, who tied a raft inside to block the whale from swallowing other men. The Camel has a hump given to him by a djinn as punishment for the camel's refusing to work (the hump allows the camel to work longer between times of eating). The Leopard's spots were painted by an Ethiopian (after the Ethiopian painted himself black). The Kangaroo gets its powerful hind legs, long tail, and hopping gait after being chased all day by a dingo, sent by a minor god responding to the Kangaroo's request to be made different from all other animals. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 - 18 January 1936 was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in India and stories for children. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old. Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), the Just So Stories (1902), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If-" (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift." Kipling was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined. Kipling's subsequent reputation has changed according to the political and social climate of the age and the resulting contrasting views about him continued for much of the 20th century. George Orwell called him a "prophet of British imperialism." Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: "He [Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with. Review Citations: School Library Journal 07/01/2003 (EAN 9789626342503, Compact Disc) School Library Journal 07/01/2003 (EAN 9789626347508, Analog Audio Cassette) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 579 (EAN 9780805004397, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 612 (EAN 9780805004397, Hardcover) School Library Journal 11/01/1987 (EAN 9780805004397, Hardcover) Ingram Children's Advance 07/01/2001 pg. 10 (EAN 9780694524761, Analog Audio Cassette) Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2001 pg. 778 (EAN 9780694524761, Analog Audio Cassette) Publishers Weekly 07/09/2001 (EAN 9780694524761, Analog Audio Cassette) Booklist 11/01/1996 pg. 498 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1996 pg. 69 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1997 pg. 66 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2001 pg. 547 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 792 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 1178 (EAN 9780688139575, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 612 (EAN 9780679417972, Hardcover) New Yorker (The) 09/17/2012 pg. 84 (EAN 9780679417972, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/1991 pg. 579 (EAN 9780670802425, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 96 01/01/1996 pg. 612 (EAN 9780670802425, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1991 (EAN 9780060232962, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Kipling, Rudyard Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. In 1907 he became the first English writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize. He wrote several novels, including The Jungle Book and Captains Courageous.