Just so Stories

Just So Stories

Rudyard Kipling

Recommended age: as from 3 years old.

Questions, questions....Why? How? When?... Curious children ask questions, some of them are easy to answer, some of them not so much.

How did the leopard get his spots? How did the rhinocero get his skin? And what about the camel´s hump? And the elephant´s trunk? Well my dear mums and dads and O my Best Beloved children, these are the very imaginative and fabulous explanations that Kipling used to give to his own children.

Jaime L.C.: ''This is the perfect book for mini dudes, it has a few metaphorical stories in which it explains how some animals got their shapes (what do people have against darwinism these days?) The stories are quite good and imaginative though the illustrations are the best part, they are AMAZING and they portray the story really well."

The stories are written in an amusing grand style, that resembles the way old stories were told in India. Each story also includes a poem. This one is for the lazy camel:

The Camel´s hump is an ugly lump

Which well you may see at the Zoo;

But uglier yet is the hump we get

From having too little to do.

(...)

Pablo L.C.: " A very entertaining array of stories that will keep your little ones asking for more and more. The writing style is quite poetic, creative and imaginative. As my brother says, not very Darwinist, though they are enormous fun. I particularly like the story of how the whale got his throat, as it is a very ingenious, and the descriptions are stupendous, and there is a lot of effective repetition in the story, which helps you understand who the man is, and why whales can only eat small fish."

Daniel L.C.: "The story of how the leopard got his spots is a very "logical"way for the leopard to get them and it also says of how the Ethiopian got their black skin so if you are ever wondering of how they did get black skin and black spots this is the book to consult! I like this story because it really signifies how important camouflage is in the animal life as if you are an animal who dosn´t have any kind of camouflage you can count yourself dead, and if you are a preadator with no camouflage you are sure not to catch any prey!".

Then the Ethiopian put his five fingers close together (there was plenty of black left on his new skin still) and pressed them all over the Leopard, and wherever the five fingers touched they left five little back marks, all close together. You can see them on any Leopard´s skin you like, Best Beloved. (...)

"Now you are a beauty!" said the Ethiopian. (...) "You can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves; and you can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular. Think of that and purr!"

Related activities:

Rudyard Kipling is also the author of one of the classics, The Jungle Book. Disney made an excellent film based on this book which as been a favourite of all children.

Click here to browse thruough this movie´s page, you can watch a trailer and much more. We soooo recommend this film! it is just wonderful, funny and with amazing characters and very funky music!!

Did you know...?

Rhinoceros are big scary animals, aren´t they? They are normally portrayed as fierce and bad humoured giants, even in this book the rhino is a bad mannered fellow.

But I have recently found out that when they are babies they are the cutest most fragile animals you can imagine.

In fact, baby rhinos are very shy and desperately need companionship to survive. So much so that they are bound to die of sadness and stress if they feel lonely.

The best way to ensure an orphan rhino has a chance of surviving is to befriend him with a sheep or another animal. Click here and enjoy this very sweet video of a nanny sheep and her baby rhino. Appearances can be deceiving!