Just So Stories For Little Children — Joseph Rudyard Kipling

How did the camel get his hump Why wont cats do as they are told Who invented reading and writing How did an inquisitive little elephant change the lives of elephants everywhere Kiplings imagined answers to such questions draw on the beast fables he heard as a child in India as well as on folk traditions he later collected all over the world He plays games with language exploring the relationships between thought speech and written word He also celebrates his own joy in fatherhood The tales were told to his own and his friends children over many years before he wrote them down adding poems and his own illustrations They invite older and younger readers to share a magical experience each contributing to the others pleasure but each can also enjoy them alone as more jokes subtexts and exotic references emerge with every reading This fully illustrated edition icludes two extra stories and Kiplings own explanation of the title