In the process of rehashing some childhood nostalgias, I picked up Just So Stories, remembering the vivid Lamarckian animal tales that once completely captivated me. And it is true, as those animal stories - and The Elephant's Child in particular - are amazingly clever little tales that had me in giggles. Left out of my childhood books were probably the remaining stories having to do with people; unfortunately, they are not only not as interesting, but suffer from Kipling's retrograde and imperialist views. Sad - but when he's good, he's good, and for sure some of these stories will continue to be classics.