Community Reviews
I review chapters one by one. Just-so stories is a term I and many other social scientists use to mock bad hypoteses in social science that explain away some thing without any studies to support the claim. So for example, a just-so story would explain the gender toy preferences by some unseen and unstudied social effect and then ignore all the monkey or child experiments showing that this stuff is explained by heritability. Or some may create a just-so story about an implicit stereotype effect that doesn't really clearly show up in any study. This is why I feel the need to read the book. I want to look into the term.
Book chapters reviewed
How the Whale Got His Throat — why the larger whales eat only small prey.
5/10
Very repetitive and slow. The ending is great though.
How the Camel Got His Hump — how the idle camel was punished and given a hump.
7/10
Lazy camel. This one is a little weird as the hump is just magic. It's basically a recreation of any old myth story that explains a thing by magic and then leaves it be.
How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin — why rhinos have folds in their skin and bad tempers.
8/10
This one is funny. The narration style of the all-knowing narrator works perfectly here.
How the Leopard Got His Spots — why leopards have spots.
6/10
This one is not great because it's confusing. It's hard to visualize these animals hide among things and change color. I liked the ending about how the leopard got its spots and how Africans became black to better hide in the dark. Clever ending.
The Elephant's Child/How the Elephant got his Trunk — how the elephant's trunk became long.
5/10
Not sure I'm a fan of all that spanking even though the child elephant gets his revenge. Seems pointless and mean. Also getting tired of the songs and image text just because this stuff makes the stories a bit too long. It's still good though.
The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo how the kangaroo assumed long legs and tail.
5/10
The kangaroo just runs from the dingo. There is not much to this story. Yet again human magic is used to explain away animal shapes. I feel like there could have been more to the story.
The Beginning of the Armadillos — how a hedgehog and tortoise transformed into the first armadillos.
6/10
The complexity of the story reveals great intelligence. It's about what the mother taught her kid and how he uses it. But the story kinda just ends like many of the other stories. There is not much to it.
How the First Letter Was Written — introduces the only characters who appear in more than one story: a family of cave-people, called Tegumai Bopsulai (the father), Teshumai Tewindrow (the mother), and Taffimai Metallumai, shortened to Taffy, (the daughter). Explains how Taffy delivered a picture message to her mother.
9/10
This one is great. The story is focused on personality and you always feel like you know all the people in it. There are no lead animals. Yet again there are interesting and clever misunderstandings in communication. But as all characters feel real and detailed the story becomes good drama instead of a small drawn out joke like the other stories.
How the Alphabet Was Made — tells how Taffy and her father invent an alphabet.
7,5/10
Yet again he shows why some people are writers and some, like me, are just readers. This is a very detailed story with yet again great use of the English language. It goes on for a bit too long but the first 4 pages are amazing and the best of the book.
The Crab that Played with the Sea — explains the ebb and flow of the tides, as well as how the crab changed from a huge animal into a small one.
3/10
This is really hard to understand at times. Some giant crab eats and makes water go up and down. There are 3 magicians. The girl magician sees the crab run away. The crab loses its shell and then turns into a small real crab with crab claws even though it already was a crab. Then a fisher and a moon creates the tide. What? I don't get this. It really needs images all the way through. All these stories do. It's a shame they don't have them because I think it would make the whole book considerably better.
The Cat that Walked by Himself — explains how man domesticated all the wild animals even the cat, which insisted on greater independence.
7/10
Good story but a bit too repetitive. I imagine this one will be a favorite for many people because it's about pets and the cat personality is perfect here as the cat refuses to be a pet like the other wild animals. Interesting that dogs already are wild and then get tamed.
The Butterfly that Stamped — how Solomon saved the pride of a butterfly, and the Queen of Sheba used this to prevent his wives scolding him.
8/10
The book version I have ends with this story and it's great. One of the best ones in the book. As someone who has studied evolutionary psychology it's great to see such keen intuition in gender conflicts. It's a good example of several typical gender conflicts presented in an engaging way. This is why children's books are so powerful. They can contain big lessons on few pages.
The Tabu Tale (missing from most British editions; first appeared in the Scribner edition in the U.S. in 1903).
7/10
I had to look this story up in some other place. It wasn't even copyrighted anymore actually. I like this on. It's a top story in the book for sure and it's a shame it's not included in all versions. This one feels more like a real story than anything else in the book which for me makes it extra strong. It's also a great father-daughter story which is a typical theme in the book.
Conclusion
It's at times a very interesting and intellectual book. I imagine it can be a bit hard for children to understand and visualize so the comic book versions are probably the ideal way to get into these stories. There really needs to be many more high quality color images here. Even as an adult there are some stories and parts I couldn't understand.
The English language is mind-blowing good at times. And the best stories here are wonderful. I actually think the kangaroo story that I rated low for being too simple for me is perfect for children.
I can see why it's a classic and found on so many top 100 best children's books lists. But for me a no-image book using this many visual examples feels bare. If it had big colorful images I would easily give it a 5/5 rating. It's better writing than any modern children's book you can find.
Book chapters reviewed
How the Whale Got His Throat — why the larger whales eat only small prey.
5/10
Very repetitive and slow. The ending is great though.
How the Camel Got His Hump — how the idle camel was punished and given a hump.
7/10
Lazy camel. This one is a little weird as the hump is just magic. It's basically a recreation of any old myth story that explains a thing by magic and then leaves it be.
How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin — why rhinos have folds in their skin and bad tempers.
8/10
This one is funny. The narration style of the all-knowing narrator works perfectly here.
How the Leopard Got His Spots — why leopards have spots.
6/10
This one is not great because it's confusing. It's hard to visualize these animals hide among things and change color. I liked the ending about how the leopard got its spots and how Africans became black to better hide in the dark. Clever ending.
The Elephant's Child/How the Elephant got his Trunk — how the elephant's trunk became long.
5/10
Not sure I'm a fan of all that spanking even though the child elephant gets his revenge. Seems pointless and mean. Also getting tired of the songs and image text just because this stuff makes the stories a bit too long. It's still good though.
The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo how the kangaroo assumed long legs and tail.
5/10
The kangaroo just runs from the dingo. There is not much to this story. Yet again human magic is used to explain away animal shapes. I feel like there could have been more to the story.
The Beginning of the Armadillos — how a hedgehog and tortoise transformed into the first armadillos.
6/10
The complexity of the story reveals great intelligence. It's about what the mother taught her kid and how he uses it. But the story kinda just ends like many of the other stories. There is not much to it.
How the First Letter Was Written — introduces the only characters who appear in more than one story: a family of cave-people, called Tegumai Bopsulai (the father), Teshumai Tewindrow (the mother), and Taffimai Metallumai, shortened to Taffy, (the daughter). Explains how Taffy delivered a picture message to her mother.
9/10
This one is great. The story is focused on personality and you always feel like you know all the people in it. There are no lead animals. Yet again there are interesting and clever misunderstandings in communication. But as all characters feel real and detailed the story becomes good drama instead of a small drawn out joke like the other stories.
How the Alphabet Was Made — tells how Taffy and her father invent an alphabet.
7,5/10
Yet again he shows why some people are writers and some, like me, are just readers. This is a very detailed story with yet again great use of the English language. It goes on for a bit too long but the first 4 pages are amazing and the best of the book.
The Crab that Played with the Sea — explains the ebb and flow of the tides, as well as how the crab changed from a huge animal into a small one.
3/10
This is really hard to understand at times. Some giant crab eats and makes water go up and down. There are 3 magicians. The girl magician sees the crab run away. The crab loses its shell and then turns into a small real crab with crab claws even though it already was a crab. Then a fisher and a moon creates the tide. What? I don't get this. It really needs images all the way through. All these stories do. It's a shame they don't have them because I think it would make the whole book considerably better.
The Cat that Walked by Himself — explains how man domesticated all the wild animals even the cat, which insisted on greater independence.
7/10
Good story but a bit too repetitive. I imagine this one will be a favorite for many people because it's about pets and the cat personality is perfect here as the cat refuses to be a pet like the other wild animals. Interesting that dogs already are wild and then get tamed.
The Butterfly that Stamped — how Solomon saved the pride of a butterfly, and the Queen of Sheba used this to prevent his wives scolding him.
8/10
The book version I have ends with this story and it's great. One of the best ones in the book. As someone who has studied evolutionary psychology it's great to see such keen intuition in gender conflicts. It's a good example of several typical gender conflicts presented in an engaging way. This is why children's books are so powerful. They can contain big lessons on few pages.
The Tabu Tale (missing from most British editions; first appeared in the Scribner edition in the U.S. in 1903).
7/10
I had to look this story up in some other place. It wasn't even copyrighted anymore actually. I like this on. It's a top story in the book for sure and it's a shame it's not included in all versions. This one feels more like a real story than anything else in the book which for me makes it extra strong. It's also a great father-daughter story which is a typical theme in the book.
Conclusion
It's at times a very interesting and intellectual book. I imagine it can be a bit hard for children to understand and visualize so the comic book versions are probably the ideal way to get into these stories. There really needs to be many more high quality color images here. Even as an adult there are some stories and parts I couldn't understand.
The English language is mind-blowing good at times. And the best stories here are wonderful. I actually think the kangaroo story that I rated low for being too simple for me is perfect for children.
I can see why it's a classic and found on so many top 100 best children's books lists. But for me a no-image book using this many visual examples feels bare. If it had big colorful images I would easily give it a 5/5 rating. It's better writing than any modern children's book you can find.
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