Bookplay is a Porridge & Play session where we all listen to a Story and then instead of the Magic Ball we ALL JUMP into the world of a BOOK to have an adventure!

The Just-so-John Bookplay stories are by a writer called Rudyard Kipling who was born 160 years ago in India! Rudyard travelled all over the world, which was quite amazing because this was before there were aeroplanes so you could only travel by foot, by boat, by horse, by bicycle  or by train!!  

Rudyard’s stories for children were inspired by all the different places he saw – a bit like us with our Flying Balloons game! His Just-So stories are about animals in India and Africa! (His most famous children’s book is The Jungle Book – which you might have heard of! ) His Just So Stories are about how he imagined some of the animals in the world came to be the way they are – how the camel got his hump? , how the leopard got his spots?, how the whale got his throat? and other questions.

Virginia’s Dad John loved these Just So Stories when he was a child. When he grew up he read them to his children (including Virginia) and then he read them to his grandchildren! John lived until he was nearly 91! When he died  some of his friends and family decided it would be fun to help Licketyspit to do some Just-so- John Bookplay Sessions to introduce the stories John loved to more children!  We are calling these our Just-So-John Bookplays! We hope you enjoy them!

‘How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin’  by Rudyard Kipling – a Bookplay by our Castlemilk Hub families…

Our second Just-so-John Bookplay at Castlemilk Library was an absolute joy! Families got together exited to see which Just-So-Story we would jump into this time. So, we enjoyed a few of our Storyplay games to get us all going and then Ruby read us the story of…‘How the Rhinoceros got his Skin’.

ONCE upon a time, on an uninhabited island on the shores of the Red Sea, there lived a Parsee from whose hat the rays of the sun were reflected in more-than-oriental splendour. 

Dressing up the Licketyspit way is the perfect way for us to become all the characters, places and things in the story!

And one day he took flour and water and currants and plums and sugar and things and made himself one cake which was two feet across and three feet thick.

But just as he was going to eat it there came down to the beach one Rhinoceros with a horn on his nose, two piggy eyes, and few manners. In those days the Rhinoceros’s skin fitted him quite tight. There were no wrinkles in it anywhere.

We fabulously moved from being one character to becoming another as we recalled the story!

And the Rhinoceros upset the oil-stove with his nose, and the cake rolled on the sand, and he spiked that cake on the horn of his nose, and he ate it, and he went away, waving his tail.

‘Them that takes cakes

Which the Parsee-man bakes

Makes dreadful mistakes.’

Mr. Parsee carefully planned how to get his own back on the rhino for eating his fantastic cake!

During a Heat Wave while the rhino was cooling down in the water…

The Rhinoceros took off his skin and carried it over his shoulder as he came down to the beach to bathe. In those days it buttoned underneath with three buttons and looked like a waterproof

Mr. Parsee collected cake crumbs from his camp and sprinkled them all over the inside of the rhino’s skin and waited for the rhino to come out the water and put his skin back on…

And it tickled like cake crumbs in bed! Then he wanted to scratch, but that made it worse

The poor grumpy rhino tried everything to stop the itch! He even scratched and rubbed against a palm tree – that looked very much like one of our grown-ups and made us all laugh and laugh! But the itch wouldn’t go away which made the rhino grumpier and grumpier…

So he went home, very angry indeed and horribly scratchy; and from that day to this every rhinoceros has great folds in his skin and a very bad temper, all on account of the cake-crumbs inside

What a fantastic way to play with a good story…that’s why we call it BOOKPLAY!

Could you BOOKPLAY a story with your family and friends this weekend?

Listen to John telling How The Rhinoceros Got His Skin by Rudyard Kipling by clicking here!

Check out the wonderful ART GALLERY inspired by our  Just-So- John Bookplay at Castlemilk Library!