Just So Stories (version 4)

Written by Rudyard Kipling

Narrated by LibriVox Community

The Just So Stories for Little Children are among Kipling's best known and loved works. This recording aims to be the first complete audio book of this title with nothing left out.

The Nobel prize-winning author's enjoyment in playing with the sounds and meanings of words is very evident throughout, and adds to adults' enjoyment of these stories for children. This playfulness is also dramatically present in the plotting. For both reasons these stories been loved by generations of children and adults alike. Because the writing plays with sound and meaning the Just So Stories are best enjoyed when read aloud.

As we all are, Kipling was a child of his time and social setting, so for example in "How the Leopard Got his Spots" he uses what one recent reviewer called "the N word" to refer to the Ethiopian. Each listener will need to examine critically both Kipling's attitudes and their own.

This recording of the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling includes Kipling's descriptions of the pictures he drew for the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay (now known as Mumbai), India, but returned with his parents to England at the age of five. Among Kipling’s best-known works are The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, and the poems “Mandalay” and “Gunga Din.” Kipling was the first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1907) and was among the youngest to have received the award.