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 Whale got His Throat’ by Rudyard Kipling – a Bookplay by Bridgeton, Whiteinch and Maryhill Hub families…

Today our Bookplay session was outdoors in a spot Licketyspit families love to go to …the Children’s Wood!

The Children’s Wood is a brilliant green space in Glasgow – we are very lucky that we live in a city with so many big and wee green spaces for us all to enjoy and look after. Our pal Andrea from the Children’s Wood Team joined us too and of course we thought – what’s more exciting than to listen to a good story around Andrea’s campfire?

 Excellent idea, my beloved!

Andrea knows everything about building fires we can enjoy safely and without damaging any nature around us – so we set up our Storyplay camp around the campfire, with a nice big picnic, and a wee shelter to make us all feel cozy and give us cover in case it rained – It didn’t! hurray!

And so, we sat round the fire and Ruby read the Rudyard Kipling Just So Story about ‘How The Whale Got His Throat’. You could have heard a pin drop! Everyone was so engrossed in the tale!

‘By means of a grating, I have stopped your ‘ating.’

While we toasted some marshmallows we all chatted about the story –

How many characters were there?

Who would like to play what?

How could you be one character one minute and another the next?, just

like that?

And how could the Mariner (sailor)manage to create a giant grating for the Whale’s throat with only a wee knife?

Well…the Mariner, as we had heard, was ‘a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.’

Did you know that infinite’ means ‘never ending’ and ‘Sagacity’ means ‘clever and canny’ ?

It was time to get on our feet and JUMP INTO the Kipling story of ‘How The Whale Got His Throat’ and a great way in is to dress up!

Abackr got started as the Stute Fish and Malak was a crab, Waheed felt strongly that he wanted to be the Whale and Farah decided to be the Sea itself! Many doubled as fish and other sea creatures, and everyone embodied the Big Great Whale swimming across the sea…whoosh!

Then Sarah and Grace became the Mariners and got eaten up by the whale – and that was too much fun not to have a go at, so other people became Mariners and enjoyed getting gulped up too!

‘Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?’

Inside the Whale’s belly a riot ensued and we all ‘stumped and they jumped and they thumped and they bumped…they pranced and they danced and they …hopped and they dropped and they ..danced hornpipes where they shouldn’t!” until the Whale got the hiccups.

Getting out of the Whale’s belly was also very fun, so quite a few Mariners got ejected!

The grating created by the Mariners who cut up the raft with the cunning use of the wee Jack knife, which proved to be very effective – the Whale tried several times to eat up more mariners but with no success because the grating we had stuck across the Whale’s throat was most effective. From that moment on, no fish or humans could ever be eaten by the Whale. Which also meant that the Whale’s digestion was going to be much more comfortable – happy days!

We had our lovely Picnic sitting together beneath the trees in the Children’s Wood enjoying being outdoors in the fresh air – we even had time to chase about between the trees!

Isn’t it great how you can Bookplay absolutely anywhere you like? All you need is your favourite story, some friends and your fantastic imaginations! What other great story could you Bookplay with your family and friends? Maybe you could tell us about it?

Ruby, Sarah, Taz, Andrea & our pals at The Children’s Wood

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

Listen to John telling How The Whale Got His Throat by Rudyard Kipling by clicking here!