Just So Stories

June 1, 2001
HarperChildren's Audio continues its re-release rollout of classic backlist titles with Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and Other Tales performed by the late British actor Boris Karloff. Just So stories include "How the Leopard Got His Spots" and "The Elephant's Child"; the "other stories" are tales from Kipling's The Jungle Book, including "Mowgli's Brothers."

September 30, 1991
The graceful prose and pungent humor of these 12 tall tales (which include such favorites as ``How the Camel Got His Hump'' and ``The Elephant's Child'') place them in the same league with such children's classics as Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. Kipling's verbal dexterity remains audible over time--even the openings of his fantastic fictions hark to a golden age of storytelling. Frampton's elegant, elaborately detailed woodcuts are attractive embellishments to this hefty 122-page collection. Stylistically, however, they are perhaps more suited to the tastes of adults than children, as they are neither as colorful nor as playful as the stories. They do not reach out and hook the audience in the distinctive, visually arresting manner needed to keep pace with this eminent author's topsy-turvy logic. Ages 8-12.

November 1, 1991
Gr 1-5- -Those who didn't acquire the Just So Stories (Holt, 1987) illustrated by Safaya Salter have a tough decision now that Frampton has provided equally attractive pictures for this one. His edition has a more sophisticatedly primitive sense of design and color. The text is set in larger type, and there are many vignettes enlivening the pages. Employing a traditional woodcut technique, the illustrator makes effective use of high contrast between black and white, variable thickness of line, and the warm, rich colors suited to Kipling's exotic settings. Salter's pictures are quieter and more conventional (although her animals have human eyes), and her complex, textilelike designs in pale and elegant colors are easy to like. For those who can't decide between the two, Kipling's own eccentrically stylish black-and-white drawings are still in print (Schocken, 1987). -Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle

January 1, 1991
A very handsome edition of Kipling's classic stories has heavy, ornamental, richly colored woodcuts that reflect the humor and characteristic style of the stories.

(Copyright 1991 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)