Just So Stories http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Just-So-Stories-Rudyard-Kipling-Helen-Ward-Illustrated-by/9781840113150

Templar Classics S.

By Rudyard Kipling, Helen Ward (Illustrated by)

Reviews

Gr 1-5-- Those who didn't acquire the Just So Stories (Holt, 1987) illustrated by Safaya Salter have a tough decision now that Frampton has provided equally attractive pictures for this one. His edition has a more sophisticatedly primitive sense of design and color. The text is set in larger type, and there are many vignettes enlivening the pages. Employing a traditional woodcut technique, the illustrator makes effective use of high contrast between black and white, variable thickness of line, and the warm, rich colors suited to Kipling's exotic settings. Salter's pictures are quieter and more conventional (although her animals have human eyes), and her complex, textilelike designs in pale and elegant colors are easy to like. For those who can't decide between the two, Kipling's own eccentrically stylish black-and-white drawings are still in print (Schocken, 1987). --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle

The graceful prose and pungent humor of these 12 tall tales (which include such favorites as ``How the Camel Got His Hump'' and ``The Elephant's Child'') place them in the same league with such children's classics as Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. Kipling's verbal dexterity remains audible over time--even the openings of his fantastic fictions hark to a golden age of storytelling. Frampton's elegant, elaborately detailed woodcuts are attractive embellishments to this hefty 122-page collection. Stylistically, however, they are perhaps more suited to the tastes of adults than children, as they are neither as colorful nor as playful as the stories. They do not reach out and hook the audience in the distinctive, visually arresting manner needed to keep pace with this eminent author's topsy-turvy logic. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)