Just So Stories

A classic collection of fantastic tales from the author of The Jungle Books, in honor of his 150th birthday.

Cats and kangaroos, crabs and camels, whales and jaguars, hedgehogs and leopards, magicians and little children, and many other beings are brought to life in an exotic Eastern landscape during “the High and Far-Off Times.” Drawn from the wondrous tales told to Kipling as a child by his Indian nurses, Just So Stories creates the magical enchantment of the dawn of the world, when animals could talk and think like people. The laziness of the Camel, the curiosity of the Elephant’s Child, the cleverness of the Hedgehog, the confusion of the Painted Jaguar, and all the rest of Kipling’s delightful menagerie make Just So Stories unforgettable reading for generations to come.

With Illustrations by the Author

With an Introduction by Avi and an Afterword by Shashi Deshpande
 

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was born in Bombay, the son of an Anglo-Indian Professor of Architectural Sculpture. There he was brought up in the care of “ayahs,” or native nurses, who taught him Hindustani and the native lore that always haunted his imagination and can be seen clearly reflected in Just So Stories. At the age of six, he was sent to school in England at Westward Ho!, the scene of Stalky & Co. In 1883, he returned to India and embarked on a career in journalism, writing the news stories as well as the tales and ballads that began to make his reputation. After seven years, he went back to England, the literary “Star of the Hour.” He married an American and stayed in Vermont from 1892 to 1894. Then he settled down in the English countryside, where he remained, except for a few trips abroad, for the rest of his life. The author of innumerable stories and poems, Rudyard Kipling is especially known for Soldiers Three (1888), The Light That Failed (1890), The Jungle Books (1894-95), Captains Courageous (1897), Stalky & Co. (1899), Kim (1901), and Just So Stories (1902). Among many other honors, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Boston, Avi is the author of more than fifty books for children and young adults beginning with Things That Sometimes Happen (1970). Among his numerous awards are the Newbery Award and two Newbery Honors, two Horn Book awards, the O’Dell Historical Fiction Award, and a Christopher Award.

Shashi Deshpande is the author of nine novels, most notably The Dark Holds No Terrors, That Long Silence, A Matter of Time, Small Remedies, and In the Country of Deceit, which was shortlisted for the Regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She also has four books for children, a collection of essays, several volumes of short stories, as well as translations from two Indian languages into English to her credit. Her own novels and short stories have been translated into many Indian and European languages. She lives in Bangalore, India.