Rudyard Kipling was an English author, poet, and short story writer. The Jungle Book (a collection of stories that contains Rikki-Tikki-Tavi), the Just So Stories (1902), Kim (1901), and a number of short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888), are among Kipling's works of fiction. Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If-- (1910) are just a few of his poems. His children's books are enduring masterpieces of children's literature, and one critic praised his work as displaying a diverse and luminous narrative gift.