What do you think?
Rate this book
Wee Willie Winkie
General Books publication 2009 Original publication 1897 Original H.M. Caldwell Children's stories Children's literature This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or an index. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1888
2 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
7,209 books3,730 followersJoseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 12, 2018
This was a cute little story about a kid who breaks the rules in order to do something good; a story we have all heard of at least once in our life times. I personally loved this story and thought it was nice compared to the other stories that I had read by Kipling.
July 3, 2017
Wee Willie Winkie is a collection of 16 Kiplings short stories collected together in 1895. Most of the stories originate in three booklets of short stories published in 1888. The stories are grouped into three sections corresponding to these booklets, with a couple of extra stories added at the end together with a short play. The stories mainly belong in the period in which Kipling was in India, with consequent Indian influences. All are well written, but special mention belongs to 'Only A Subaltern', 'The Man Who Would Be King', and 'The Drums of the Fore and Aft' which really were Kipling through and through. Very enjoyable.
November 30, 2017
This book of Kipling's short stories, collected in 3 booklets published together in 1895, are set in late 19th-century British-controlled India. Many of the stories are about illicit love affairs (and so earning a 3- rather than 4-star rating from me), told in the sedate style of Victorian-era English literature, and are certainly not intended for little children; an exception among the lot are the "Wee Willie Winkie" short stories that concern the life of a six-year-old British lad living in India with his parents.
October 15, 2008
Really disliked this collection of stories. Don't know if this is a kids book - it's like "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" which I didn't like. A childish style which doesn't grab me. Didn't finish it. Was the nursery rhyme a precurser to this or did it come after?
July 17, 2025
Another short story collection for children, huh? That's his sixth, if I haven't miscounted.
Let's start with Wee Willie Winkie...
... good grief, he's spelling baby talk phonetically. When the title character is almost seven. That's enough to be an anti-recommendation.
I did find it curious how the other characters treat the son of a regiment's Colonel as a future Colonel of the same regiment. That doesn't have any basis in fact, does it? I would think that while some Anglo families would be hereditary Army officers, how far one rose and where he was assigned was a rational, need-based, merit thing. It doesn't even make sense as a caste system joke.
"His Majesty the King" has nothing going for it.
"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" has the awful phonetically spelled dialogue, but it's pretty interesting since it's autobiographical about the part of Rudyard's childhood when he was shipped from Bombay to England with his sister to be abused by a foster family.
"The Drums of the Fore and Aft" is about 12 year old drummers in the Raj's army, so it's free of the baby talk spelling. Indians and Afghans get called a racial slur normally used of Africans a lot, though. Yikes.
Let's start with Wee Willie Winkie...
... good grief, he's spelling baby talk phonetically. When the title character is almost seven. That's enough to be an anti-recommendation.
I did find it curious how the other characters treat the son of a regiment's Colonel as a future Colonel of the same regiment. That doesn't have any basis in fact, does it? I would think that while some Anglo families would be hereditary Army officers, how far one rose and where he was assigned was a rational, need-based, merit thing. It doesn't even make sense as a caste system joke.
"His Majesty the King" has nothing going for it.
"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" has the awful phonetically spelled dialogue, but it's pretty interesting since it's autobiographical about the part of Rudyard's childhood when he was shipped from Bombay to England with his sister to be abused by a foster family.
"The Drums of the Fore and Aft" is about 12 year old drummers in the Raj's army, so it's free of the baby talk spelling. Indians and Afghans get called a racial slur normally used of Africans a lot, though. Yikes.
Read
September 23, 2023I read the A.H.Wheeler and Co.'s Indian Railway Library No. 6. edition borrowed from my local library. It only has 96 pages.
I loved it although his use of the N word and disparaging comments about Afghan soldiers in the last story and people of colour in the second one is uncomfortable. I think you have to consider that it's his characters holding these views and not necessarily him. Even though being a product of his time doesn't justify his views I still think he should be given a little grace because the storytelling is so good and for the literary quality of the writing.
His portraits of children and the harshness of their world are excellent.
I loved it although his use of the N word and disparaging comments about Afghan soldiers in the last story and people of colour in the second one is uncomfortable. I think you have to consider that it's his characters holding these views and not necessarily him. Even though being a product of his time doesn't justify his views I still think he should be given a little grace because the storytelling is so good and for the literary quality of the writing.
His portraits of children and the harshness of their world are excellent.
January 11, 2018
A very fun book to read. On one side a very empirical book in tone, but, that is a product of the time it was written. Quite an adorable little story revolving around childhood, innocence and the military.
July 27, 2022
Story of a young boy who rescues a young woman from a pack of savages.
November 5, 2022
I really read Shirley Temple in Wee Willie Winkie by Saalfield Publishing, but Goodreads doesn't list it & I can't add it.
March 2, 2017
“How the Pride of the Regiment Changed his Name”
Set during the Raj, when Britain’s Imperialistic philosophy earnestly tried to convert all native peoples into good Victorian citizens, this short story is charmingly told by the Great White Literary Hope, and quaintly illustrated in 3 colors by Veva Storey. A blond, six-year-old urchin--christened Wee Willie Winkie by an adoring regiment--has the knack of giving adults nicknames—which stick; his favorite is a subaltern whom he names Coppy because of his reddish hair. Raised according to a family version of Military Discipline Winkie discovers that Coppy has a sweetheart and reluctantly accepts that it is not unmanly to kiss a young lady. Once he understands that
this girl belongs to his revered Coppy, the child realizes that she may be riding into danger across the river—into the territory of Afghan marauders. How can a mere child save Coppy’s beloved—especially when he has been confined to quarters as punishment?
Gentle illustrations set the tone of this 1938 edition. Easy to read in one sitting, sprinkled with Indian words to research or recognize, this small book (designed for little hands) proves a delightful, if dated, coda to the great list of literary masterpieces by Kipling, who spent some years at his second home, Naulaka, in Southern Vermont.
March 1, 2017
Set during the Raj, when Britain’s Imperialistic philosophy earnestly tried to convert all native peoples into good Victorian citizens, this short story is charmingly told by the Great White Literary Hope, and quaintly illustrated in 3 colors by Veva Storey. A blond, six-year-old urchin--christened Wee Willie Winkie by an adoring regiment--has the knack of giving adults nicknames—which stick; his favorite is a subaltern whom he names Coppy because of his reddish hair. Raised according to a family version of Military Discipline Winkie discovers that Coppy has a sweetheart and reluctantly accepts that it is not unmanly to kiss a young lady. Once he understands that
this girl belongs to his revered Coppy, the child realizes that she may be riding into danger across the river—into the territory of Afghan marauders. How can a mere child save Coppy’s beloved—especially when he has been confined to quarters as punishment?
Gentle illustrations set the tone of this 1938 edition. Easy to read in one sitting, sprinkled with Indian words to research or recognize, this small book (designed for little hands) proves a delightful, if dated, coda to the great list of literary masterpieces by Kipling, who spent some years at his second home, Naulaka, in Southern Vermont.
March 1, 2017
February 9, 2017
Sometimes it's nice to re-read the classic tales.
November 11, 2013
The short stories in this book is filled with insights and beautifully flown words. I read it way way back in the year 2001. I still remember the stories in it, etched in my mind like pictures. That will be proof enough to how memorable it is.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews