‘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.