Just So Stories, Volume 1 - Hardcover

Kipling, Rudyard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155498212X ISBN 13: 9781554982127

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2013

Synopsis

Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories is one of the best-loved story collections ever written for children. Now Ian Wallace, one of Canada’s most accomplished children’s book illustrators, reinterprets the famous tales with his vibrant art, bringing Kipling to a whole new generation of young readers.

Kipling wrote the stories for his young daughter, who would only sleep if they were told “just so.” The first edition was published in Great Britain in 1902, along with black-and-white illustrations by the author himself. The stories have remained in print ever since, delighting young readers all over the world. Many of the tales are origin stories, explaining how an animal came to be the way it is. They are ripe with imagination, inventive vocabulary and word play. This new edition, published more than 110 years after the original, has been edited to remove racist language. The first handsome volume includes “How the Whale Got His Throat,” “How the Camel Got His Hump,” “How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin,” “How the Leopard Got His Spots,” “The Elephant’s Child” and “The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo.” The second volume will be published in spring 2014.

Inspired by these remarkable stories from all around the world, Ian Wallace has chosen to make an annual donation to IBBY's Fund for Children in Crisis.

About this title

About the Author

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was an author of books for children and adults who achieved wide critical acclaim in his lifetime. Born in India, he was sent to school in England, where he endured difficult years with a foster family but discovered a love for reading. When he was seventeen he returned to India for a time, where he worked as a journalist before turning to poetry, short stories — for which he is best known — and novels. The Jungle Book became an instant classic and was followed by other much-loved children’s books, including Kim and the Just So Stories. Kipling’s many awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Ian Wallace has had a long and distinguished career as an author and illustrator of picture books, publishing many classics such as Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance, Boy of the Deeps, The Name of the Tree, The Huron Carol and Canadian Railroad Trilogy. He has won the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. He has also been nominated for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Ian currently lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Deb.

Reviews

Gr 3–6—The first of two volumes, this book presents six of Kipling's timeless tales, freshly interpreted through superb mixed-media paintings. Consistent stylistic elements, such as the use of texture and muted edges, give the book an elegant overall look, and each story is individualized by its own color scheme and exquisitely delineated setting, adding a delightful sense of discovery. The illustrations for "How the Whale Got His Throat" balance cool maritime greens and blues with sherbet sunset skies; desert scenes for "How the Camel Got His Hump" shimmer with blazing reds and yellows and an almost tangible sand-swept veneer; and images for "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo" depict an Australian outback that is at once austere and dramatically hued. Softly realistic, the various protagonists radiate personality: "The Elephant's Child" possesses a charmingly stubby nose and wide-eyed innocence; the leopard is sleek and dignified with or without his spots; and the ill-mannered rhinoceros rampages past a Parsee's striped pavilion, brandishing a stolen cake on his horn (never fear, the man will soon work his revenge, leaving the rhino with a loose skin and "a very bad temper"). Throughout, these lovely paintings embrace the nuances of each tale and add to their sense of wonder.—Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155498212X
• ISBN 13: 9781554982127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Wallace Ian
• Number of pages: 64