Well thanks a lot Driveway!
Ya sit here for a week anticipating the moment when you can unleash the pick of a century, wowing the CP literary community and feel a fine sense of smug satisfaction when you reveal your pick of........wait for it....
Rudyard Kipling.
Oh well here it is anyway.
With my fourth Round Selection Circa89 selects in the Category of Childrens Lit
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
1902 MacMillian, London
I guess I may have to attribute my love of reading to this eccentric Englishman. What a wonderful collection of fantastical short stories of creation and the way things are O' best beloved. The version I have I received when I was about 6 or 7 and now I read it to my Son who is 7. We have read and reread these. These are amusing and now quite politically incorrect in most cases but instill a sense of wonder and intrigue as to why things are the way they are.
EDIT:
Here are the titles of the stories. My version does not include the Tabu Tale.
- How the Whale got his Throat- Explains how the whale was once a fearsome predator who ate humans, but was changed by one of his victims.
- How the Camel got his Hump- Explains how the idle camel was punished.
- How the Rhinoceros got his Skin- Explains why Rhinos have folds in their skin and bad tempers.
- How the Leopard got his Spots
- The Elephant's Child- The story of how the elephant's trunk became long.
- The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo- The story of how the kangaroo turned from a grey, wooly animal with short, stubby legs, to the athletic animal we know today.
- The Beginning of the Armadilloes- The story of how the hedgehog and the turtle transformed into the first armadillos.
- How the First Letter was Written- Introduces the only characters who appear in more than one story- a family of cave-people, called Tegumai Bopsulai (the father), Teshumai Tewindrow (the mother), and Taffimai Metallumai, (the daughter). Explains how Taffy delivered a picture message to her mother.
- How the Alphabet was Made- Taffy and her father invent the earliest form of the alphabet.
- The Crab that Played with the Sea
- The Cat that Walked by Himself- The longest story. The story of how all domesticated animals became that way, especially focussing on the wildest of all, the cat. We also learn how the dog, the cow and the horse became man's servants.
- The Butterfly that Stamped- The story of how wise king Solomon rid himself of troublesome wives, and saved the pride of a butterfly.
- The Tabu Tale (missing from most British editions; first appeared in the Scribner edition in the US in 1903)
As well as appearing in a collection, the individual stories have also been published separately, often in large-format illustrated editions for younger children. A
video edition has also been released; on
VHS tapes it required three tapes with four episodes on each.
To be honest I have never actually read all the stories in the Complete and Unabridged Rudyard Kipling. How's Stalky and Co.?