‘Hear and attend and listen; for this befell and behappened and became and was’

Have you ever enquired why the elephant has such an enormously elongated nose? Are you confused by a cat’s contrary nature? Have you ruminated on the wrinkles of a rhinocerous? Or speculated on a leopard’s spots? Rudyard Kipling wondered about all these things too, and in this marvellous collection of stories he imagines how the animals became ‘just so’.

Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can find out why Just So Stories is one of Philip Pullman’s favourite books and discover wacky facts about wild animals!

Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Read a sample here