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The Sing-song of Old Man Kangaroo

A Just So Story by Rudyard Kipling

This reader is retold from Just So Stories, first published in 1902 by Rudyard Kipling, an English writer who loved to explain how animals came to look the way they do. In this tale, a proud kangaroo asks a god to make him special—and learns that getting what you wish for can come in surprising ways. Kipling's playful rhythm and invented words ('Nqong,' 'Warrigaborrigarooma') make the story feel like a song, and children have enjoyed his imaginative explanations for over a century. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5

Length

short · about 331 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Just so stories, Rudyard Kipling

First published

1902

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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