Just So Stories: with original illustrations by Rudyard Kipling (Aziloth Books)

Born in Bombay in 1865, Rudyard Kipling was taken from the exotic sights and sounds of India just five years later and sent to foster parents in England, where he was by his own admission, utterly miserable. When he had children of his own, Kipling made sure that his offspring's young lives were full of mystery and delight, entertaining them by inventing ingenious and amusing explanations to such important childhood questions as how the elephant got its trunk, or the leopard its spots. The original book, published in 1902, contained more than thirty of Kipling's own brilliant illustrations, all of which have been faithfully reproduced in this Aziloth Books edition. Written in comical, grandiloquent style, shot through with beautiful poems and improbably long and hilarious invented words, the 'Just So Stories' have been a firm favourite of children (and adults) for more than a century, and are likely to remain a first choice for bedtime stories for many years to come.