Children's ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
How the Elephant Got Its Trunk and Other Wild Animal Stories
Rudyard Kipling · 2018
🎙 Narrated by Virginia McKenna
74/100
👍 Worth It
This is the good stuff - Kipling's Just So Stories plus 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,' read by Virginia McKenna with a genuine wildlife-conservation heart behind it, right down to profits benefiting Born Free. The mongoose-versus-cobra tale is more intense than the whimsical origin myths, so know that going in, but the narration itself - plus a bonus conservation interview - is excellent and absolutely worth the listen.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
▶ Listen to a sample
🎙 Narration: excellent Virginia McKenna's narration carries real warmth from her own conservation background, plus a bonus hour-long interview - a standout listen.
🎧 Listen free with an Audible trial ↗ Find it on Audible ↗📚 In print ↗📱 On Kindle ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety80
Substance / usefulness82
Craft & writing82
Originality58
Evidence & accuracy78
Hype vs delivers58
Age-fit68
Human-eye read72
Penny’s verdict74
Cross-pollinate