This is an amazing book of fables. Both Kipling's poetic flair and his spirituality shine through his beautifully written prose. ( )

Quirky and whimsical stories that give explanations for such things as an elephant's trunk, a camel's hump, or the tides. The tales themselves have a distinct non-Western feel, and could easily be mistaken for older, traditional tales despite being written by a Brit in the early 1900s.
The tales are unique but written in an odd almost oral style that takes some getting used to. They might be better read aloud than read internally.

Having enjoyed the tales as a child I am uncertain if they would still be appealing to modern children or if they're still appreciated even in the modern age. ( )

I only read two stories from Just So Stories, "How the First Letter was Written" and "How the Alphabet was Made." Both were incredibly fun to read, especially aloud. Kipling pokes fun at the stereotypes of parents and children with names like, "Lady-who-asks-a-very-many-questions" for the mother and "Small-person-with-out-any-manners-who-ought-to-be-spanked" for the child. In both stories the theme is the need for better communication skills and are meant to be read together. The first letter makes up the alphabet later on and one story is a continuation of the other. Rumor has it that both "How the First Letter was Written" and "How the Alphabet was Made" started out as oral stories, told to Kipling's daughter Josephine in 1900. ( )

Children's stories, published in 1902, that provide fantasy explanations for the origin of things - animal features, writing etc. Famous as children's stories, they also provide the epithet for tendentious evolutionary reasoning. Interesting. Also my first book read on the lap-top from a Project Gutenburg text. On-screen reading is not as easy as it should seem! Read March 2009 ( )

Delightful, whimsical stories about how the world began. LOVED reading this stories just before bedtime, pretending I was a little kid again... ( )