In 1907, Rudyard Kipling received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first English-language writer to receive the prize. Kipling was a innovator in the art of short stories. His children’s books, like Jungle Book, are classics of children's literature.

Kipling also wrote poetry. One of his famous poems is called “If.” The poem was inspired by a war battle. The British were defeated by French and Dutch settlers in South Africa. Because the poem is about war, some people have crit...