“Just So Stories”

I’m enjoying my 1930 edition of Kipling’s collection of fanciful tales, which are embellished by his drawings.  It is for kids of all ages and I think it would be best read aloud.

                  “In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes.  He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickerel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel.  All the fishes he could find in the sea he ate with his mouth–so!”

Some of the chapters:

How the Whale Got His Throat

How the Camel Got His Hump

The Beginning of the Armadillos

How the First Letter was Written

How the Alphabet was Made

The illustration accompanying the Whale story:

“Here is the Whale looking for the little ‘Stute Fish, who is hiding under the Door-sills of the Equator…”