Abstract
Kipling wrote novels, stories, and verse from the 1880s until his death in 1936 for both adults and children. In much of this writing, children played a major part and in a number of his works for children he had an admitted didactic aim. Throughout these years Kipling's works were very widely read. The questions can then be asked what view of the child did he express in his writing and how innovatory was it? A view can be discerned fairly early in his oeuvre and this remained remarkably stable until his death. This view focused on a vision of growth or ‘becoming’, fostered by activity and often learnt unconsciously. Action was to be directed by a firm and rather conservative code of morals, although some initiative was allowed on occasions so that change became a possibility.