Title: Just So Stories
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Pages: 144
Genre: Folklore
Written by: Alex L.
Have you ever wondered why the cat isn't such a good friend with other animals? Why the trunk of elephants is so long? How the camel was created? And many more? I think many of us have. This book, is originally created for small children wanting to know more about the surroundings in their world, but even grown-ups can enjoy these stories. The little tales written about in this book, are not necessarily the real ones, but they come from Oral tradition. Oral tradition is the telling of stories from generation to generation but of course in some way we either exaggerate or don't tell the story right. The other mystery behind these stories is that we never know for sure who was the original teller and why they think the world is how it is. This was the main purpose of writing stories with meanings, to have an idea of why things are how they are even thought they might not be correct. Reading this book won't only be interesting but it will cause you to think. Will you agree or disagree with the story? For example The Beginning of the Armadillo, it talks about a hedgehog and a turtle living in the forest. This story wouldn't be interesting without the jaguar of course, so the jaguar ask his mum for help because he doesn't know how to hunt and she tells him if he comes across the turtle he should put his paw into the shell and take her out, on the other hand, with the hedgehog, he should throw him into the water until he drowns. Of course by the time the Jaguar arrives to the 2 animals he forgets which one is which, the foolish turtle and hedgehog say the total opposite of what the jaguar should do, and they escape. The second time the mother tells the baby jaguar to make sure the hedgehog is prickly and he can't swim, and for the turtle she tells him it is smooth and can't roll up into a ball. Of course the 2 smart animals teach one an other how to do these actions and the jaguar failed again. The story continues, and maybe you heard a different version of it. That is the fun part to it, this is why everyone shares what they know, so we can compromise our stories.
I enjoyed reading this book a lot because it uses good language, explains the pictures and the stories, since they are made for small kids they have a good sense of humor. One of the reasons why I chose to read this book was also because it wasn't too long and it had an attractive book covers. So if you are aiming for an amusing book with reasons behind it, this one is definitively something you should try!