The Jungle Book

"The Jungle Book" is a collection of stories (or fables) and songs/poems by Rudyard Kipling, and was originally published in 1894. The book consists of 7 short stories, separated by seven poems. The first three stories involve Mowgli, but the other four stories are not part of that series, nor do they all take place in the same jungle or any jungle at all. What these stories do have in common is the anthropomorphizing of animals as characters in these stories. As with all fables, these stories impart a moral message to the reader."Mowgli's Brothers" is the first story in the book and was originally published in January of 1894 in "St. Nicholas Magazine". The story is about Mowgli being adopted by the wolf family which then raises him. With Shere Khan hunting in their area of the jungle, the Father Wolf (Akela) and the mother (Raksha) find and take in a human baby. At the wolf council, Baloo speaks for the cub, and Bagheera buys his life with a fresh kill. As time passes, Shere Khan turns most of the wolves against Mowgli, and they plot to overthrow Akela as the leader. Mowgli is then sent away from the wolves, vowing to return with Shere Khan's hide. This story is followed by the "Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack". "Kaa's Hunting" is a short study from March-April of 1894. It takes place sometime during the period covered in "Mowgli's Brothers", though it isn't mentioned in that story. It is a story about Mowgli's abduction by monkees, a.k.a the Bandar-log. Baloo and Bagheera, rescue Mowgli with the aid of Kaa. This story is followed by the "Road Song of the Bandar-Log"."Tiger! Tiger!" was a short story published in February of 1894 in magazines before being published in this collection. This covers the confrontation between Mowgli and Shere Khan. Mowgli has been kicked out of the jungle and has been adopted by a couple who believe he is Nathoo, the child that they lost. Mowgli tries to fit in, but he alienates himself from the others because he doesn't accept their misconceptions about the jungle. Shere Khan returns and is plotting to kill Mowgli, but he is warned by one of his wolf friends (Grey Brother) whom he goes to visit regularly. Mowgli comes up with a plan to kill Shere Khan, but when successful he gets into an argument with Buldeo, the hunger. Buldeo tries to take Shere Khan's skin, but Mowgli refuses to give it to him, so Buldeo turns the entire village against him and Mowgli finds himself an outcast of both the jungle and the village. This story is followed by "Mowgli's Song"."The White Seal" is a short story published in August of 1893. The story is about Kotick, a rare white-furred seal who spends his life searching for a home where seals will not be hunted by humans. He is isolated from the other seals by his goal, but he finally discovers a place that the Sea Cows know which is free from man. This story is followed by "Lukannon"."Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a story from November of 1893. In this story an English family save a young mongoose (Rikki Tikki) who becomes their pet. Rikki Tikki first saves the families young boy Teddy from a dust brown snakeling. Rikki Tikki takes to patrolling the house while the family sleeps, and it is during this that he is warned by Chuchundra that there are two cobras (Nag and Nagaina) that are planning to kill the family. Rikki Tikki first takes on Nag, waking the father who kills Nag. Nagaina then swears vengeance, but Rikki Tikki gets help from Darzee (a tailor bird) and locates Nagainaj's nest and then uses the eggs to distract Nagaina to save Teddy again. This story is followed by "Darzee's Chant"."Toomai of the Elephants" is a short story from the December of 1893. In this story little Toomai is told that he cannot be an elephant handler unless he sees the dance of the elephants. When the great elephant Kala Nag hears the call of the elephant from far off in the jungle, he goes to find the elephants, taking little Toomai with him. This story is followed y "Shiv and the Grasshopper"."Her Majesty's Servants" was originally published in March of 1894. This story is about the various animals used to support Her Majesty's armed forces in India. The animals discuss their roles in the army, each taking pride in the function they perform. This is followed by "Parade-Song of the Camp Animals" which closes out the book.This is a good collection of short stories, though there is a definite variability in the quality, and of course they don't all take place in the jungle. Rudyard Kipling wrote poems, short stories, and novels. Having lived in India, England, and the United States, and also spent a fair amount of time in South Africa. He drew on the rich cultural history that he enjoyed to create some wonderful tales. He remains one of the best known writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "The Jungle Book" is one of his best known works, though most know it through films which do not accurately represent the stories within. It blends his short fiction with some of his poems, but I find it a bit too uneven to give it five-stars.

Came in time and was well received x-mas day.

Great

I always thought Migwli's story was the only one in the Jungle Book. Imagine my confusion when we're suddenly in Alaska. O.o and there's a first person briefly at play, v before we go back into 3rd. I now know where Rikiitikkitavi comes from, so there's that. And I see some elements of the elephants story plays in the Disney movie... still, very dizzying. When I started this journey with classic novels, I am always confounded at how different my preconceived notions are in comparison to their reality. Fascinating stories, moments of racism that's noted for the time.... decent read. I would, as a parent, read these yourself before deciding if you're child should. This is NOT the Disney movie. There's graphic violence, not suitable for all ages. Overall decent book.

These tales teach my kids about the difference between good and evil.My kids really love these tales because these ones show some miracle in the stories and the ending is always good.I recommend this book for boys and girls aged 5-14.

I don't know if the India that Kipling transmits is the India of his time. But it's a meaningless question. Art, with time, remains more real than the debris left by history: we love and know more about Don Quixote than Charles V. And so the India of Kipling is totally real to me, as are my Indian friends. Except that in Kipling with a touch of the British spirit of its time to, not only control the world, but to make it theirs. If you read the fiction of most of writers from the former countries of the Spanish Empire you will notice that, despite centuries of ancestors living there, they write about nature and natives as if they were something terrible and alien; Kipling instead embrace, and makes us embrace, the whole of India with deep love.Although Disney movies could make you think otherwise, this is a unique book of tales and songs with different protagonists, mostly animals, and certainly not only Mowgli. An exotic book as Bollywood movies are today, with their stories and their dances in between. I loved so much the descriptions of Bagheera, a sensuous shadow of velvet. The jungle so dense and so old. The ocean and the wars to survive in "The white seal." Conflicts fueled by familiar bonds in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," a tale in which I don't think there is really an enemy. The almost supernatural call in "Toomai of the Elephants." The last one, "Her Majesty's servants", I consider it more comical and maybe satirical. It was nice, but I didn't liked so much as the rest.This AmazonClassics Edition has X-Ray, although when I consult the entry for Rann the kite, it gives me instead the description of a place instead of the character. Also, with many exotic terms, some of them are not explained in the X-Ray section. Maybe they are evident for most of the readers but I would liked to have a bit more data. In the end there is a short biography and that's all. There is no intermediary to spoil the fun, with introductions or studies, to read this great book that you can enjoy and learn at any age.

I ordered The Jungle Book for my grandson's future reading, but he will probably need to be in high school. This is not a cutsy, Disney view of India or the jungle. This particular edition of Kipling's stories would satisfy adults, however, with its rich descriptions of culture and wisdom. It's other-worldly enough to take modern children out of their usual environments, yet it is taken from the reality of a different time and place. Such is the joy and wonder of folk tales. They connect us all on a universal level. While Mogli was raised by wolves, he still must pass important tests to become an adult, to return to the human village to become a man in that culture, to avenge the death of his wolf father, and find his place in both worlds.

Nice book. I wish these Usborne illustrated originals had illustrations on every page like Usborne illustrated stories series. But, then, the book would become too big. I have already purchased Around the world in 80 day and Alice in Wonderland. Satisfied with all including this one.

The illustrated Jungle Book is a mixed bag in many ways, and if your only experience of the story is from the films then you are in for a surprising revelation. Firstly the Jungle Book is not one story but an anthology of 7 short stories and 7 songs, and understandably with some more appealing than others. The contents include:Mowgli’s Brothers (Story)Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack (Song)Kaa’s Hunting (Story)Road-Song of the Bandar-Log (Song)“Tiger! Tiger!” (Story)Mowgli’s Song (Song)The White Seal (Story)Lukannon (Song)“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” (Story)Darzee’s Chant (Song)Toomai of the Elephants (Story)Shiv and the Grasshopper (Song)Her Majesty’s Servants (Story)Parade-Song of the Camp Animals (Song)This is also not a child’s book, it is dark, threatening and violent. Even Baloo while teaching Mowgli the ways and language of the jungle, leaves him heavily bruised. The general story, we all know, as Mowgli the Man-Cub (the Frog) is found as an infant and reared by wolves, taught and watched over by Baloo and Bagheera, and hunted by Shere Khan. However, if you’ve only seen the films and are unaware of the book, then expect a few surprises. The role of characters are transformed, interactions are altered and plots are changed. Death is a typical outcome, often clinical and ruthless, but with a purpose. The written narrative and dialogue from Rudyard Kipling reminds us just how great a writer he is, how he constructs a layered storyline and uses such lyrical prose to describe the scene and activities. Each story starts with a little poem that magically blends with the story.Only the first 3 stories relate to Mowgli, the others are a seal, mongoose, elephants and the ensemble of animals in Her Majesty’s Servants. This is an illustrated version and while the drawings are very well done there are two types; black and white sketch which are exceptionally well drawn and full-colour prints that seem to vary in quality. This is a Kindle version and the formatting with the images is really poor and inconsistent.I wasn’t quite sure with this and probably rate it as 3.5 stars.

Mowgli '...carried his manners with his knife, and that never left him.'I ought to declare an interest from the outset. For me, 'The Jungle Books' are the book of books. I think this might also have been true for a number of past generations, although rumour has it that it is less true today. If so, then that is today's loss.I am of the view that had Kipling not written 'The Jungle Books' then we might not have had later works like 'Animal Farm' and many others (not all of them animal fables) in which the reader will have detected the echoes of Kipling's great work. It is also only fair to point out that 'The Jungle Books' were themselves influenced by Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' books.Although, as a matter of taste or temperament, one may prefer certain of these stories to others, I think it is neverthless true to say that 'The Jungle Books' contain not a single dud, nor dull story.A number of the 'Jungle Book' stories appear to show Kipling revisiting his own experience of childhood by way of allegory. There are certainly elements of this to be found in the Mowgli stories, but I think the most fully realised example of it can be found in 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi'. Rikki-Tikki's early seperation from his own parents; the immediate threats posed by the new environment in which he finds himself, as well as the distant but affectionate relationship which he forms to the parental figures who own 'the big bungalow', all chime, in my view, with different aspects of Kipling's own childhood.It is also interesting to note that Mowgli, Rikki-Tikki and Toomai (of the elephants) are all native youngsters, of one species or another, and therefore somewhat distanced from the adult 'Sahibs' who, in the cases of Rikki-Tikki and Toomai, hold the positions of worldly and generally benevolent authority over their lives. In his autobiography, 'Something of Myself', the Bombay-born Kipling notes that for the first six years of his life he spoke and thought in the vernacular, mainly within the native Indian society provided by his bearers and his parents' household staff, and only spoke English, haltingly translated out of the vernacular, when taken into the parental presence. In my view, the personal identification with the native child and the native society which surrounds him, which is characteristic of 'The Jungle Books', is one of the autobiographical elements to be found within its pages. And the distant but affectionate relationship between these characters and the 'Sahibs' in their lives also reflects, in my view, Kipling's own relationship to his parents. It may be that within his developing sensibility the British Empire itself became an extension and a projection of this formative parental relationship. Within this context, it is also worth noting that between the ages of six and twelve Kipling was more literally distanced from his parents, whom he idealised and adored, by their returning to India after a brief trip to England, leaving Rudyard and his sister behind in a foster home at Southsea.But this suggestion of autobiography by allegory is not intended to minimize, nor underestimate, the quality of the creative imagination which is at work in 'The Jungle Books'. As flights of the imagination go, for example, few go better than the flight of the Bandar-Log (Monkey People) through the treetops of the Jungle, carrying with them an unwilling Mowgli as both their hostage and their trophy. The subsequent battle at 'Cold Lairs' (a deserted Moghul city, buried deep within the Jungle) between Bagheera, Baloo, Kaa and the Bandar-Log for possession of Mowgli - for his life - is likewise a marvel of invention, not to mention the occasion of some tremendous prose writing. And this is far from being the only example of Kipling's creative imagination functioning at its highest level to be found within the pages of 'The Jungle Books'.The quality of much of the poetry which accompanies these stories is also very high. In fact, here is as good a place as any in which to say that one of the principal strengths of Kipling's prose writing is that it is rooted in poetry. His prose is informed by a poetic sensibility and also exhibits the technical virtuosity which springs from his familiarity with a technically difficult form. There are very few writers who can write both poetry and prose to the standard that Rudyard Kipling could.The 'Jungle Book' stories provide Kipling with a variety of opportunities and ways in which to re-imagine his own childhood, and therebye to re-examine and re-interpret it as well - to make sense of it all and to make of it, too, a curious 'through the looking glass' study of human nature and society, as well as a medium for articulating a realistic ethics, or code of conduct, for survival in that society. If you like, 'The Jungle Books' are a 'How to Survive' manual written by one who has survived childhood adversity, in which the animals are very like people, or perhaps it is that people are very like animals. Aside from the beauty of the Jungle, which is repeatedly reflected in Kipling's prose descriptions of it, there is much to be wary of in Nature as seen through the looking glass of 'The Jungle Books', and there is correspondingly much need to tailor your character and conduct in order to survive it. But there is also great friendship and even love to be found in this 'Jungle'. Hence Bagheera, Baloo, Akela, Kaa and the others.Given the contents of the six harmful years which he spent as a child at Southsea, what surprises me the most about Kipling's approach is how magnanimous it is. Certainly there are the occasional wrist flicks, or pen flicks, of less attractive impulses to be found within the volume and variety of his work, but they are nothing like so central to it as they might have been had he developed a greater taste or talent for bitterness. Clearly this was the case towards the end of the nineteenth century, when 'The Jungle Books' were written. It may be that later on in his life Kipling suffered a number of personal and perhaps even ideological losses which contributed to the emergence of a noticeable bleakness of vision which can be found in his later work.There are also a few surprisingly adult puns to be found in 'The Jungle Books', most particularly in the story called 'Her Majesty's Servants', about a group of military camp animals who are thrown together for a conversation one stormy and disturbed night. Sayeth the troop-horse: 'You could put a whole regiment of Dicks on my back without making me feel any better.' This put me in mind of a remark which Kipling made in the pages of 'Something of Myself': '...the tales had to be read by children, before people realized that they were meant for grown-ups.' Although, by way of qualification, it ought to be added that Kipling was referring to the Puck books, rather than to 'The Jungle Books', I neverthless think that his remark remains relevant.Far from simply being 'books for children', 'The Jungle Books' are mature works by Rudyard Kipling, the second one perhaps being more so than the first. By which I mean that 'The Second Jungle Book' is a deepening and a development of the first, excellent though the first remains. Besides the steady maturing of Mowgli himself (he departs 'The Second Jungle Book' in early manhood) another example of this 'deepening and development' would be the entire story within a story - a complete creation myth, as told by Hathi (the elephant) - which can be found within the pages of 'How Fear Came'. The story-within-a-story becoming something of a characteristic feature of 'The Second Jungle Book', and one which was largely absent from the First. I think the stories of the Second Jungle Book have generally more richness of detail and texture to them as well. As examples of this, I would cite 'Quiquern', which is the finest and most closely observed story of the Frozen North that I have read; or the beautiful storytelling and prose writing of 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat', a characteristically Indian tale which has long been one of my 'Second Jungle Book' favourites. Also, and regardless of what one may think of its politics - which strike me as being surprisingly even-handed for a son of British parents, born in India, under the Raj - 'The Undertakers' is another high point of 'The Second Jungle Book'; a twenty-page masterpiece of the short story writer's art. And immediately following this tale comes 'The King's Ankus' which, for me, constitutes the apex of the Mowgli stories. The treasure within the story itself functioning as the perfect symbol for the riches to be found within 'The Jungle Books' as a whole.Only the desire not to go on too long, and therebye bore the reader, has prevented me from doing justice to other great Second Jungle Book stories like 'The Spring Running' or 'Red Dog' - which rivals 'The King's Ankus' in its qualities of imagination and execution - as well as to Stuart Tresilian's still unsurpassed illustrations for both 'Jungle Books', which grace this particular edition.---------------------------------------------------Note: This review relates to The Reprint Society's 1956 hardback edition of 'The Jungle Books'.

The Jungle Book was first published in 1894, and The Second Jungle Book in 1895, and amongst the pages we read of Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Shere Khan and all the other characters that have become so well known. Not all the tales take place in this setting though as you have a tale about Inuits, a white seal, Rikki-Tikki the mongoose, other animals, and a boy who is taken to see the elephants dance.I should think that most older people will have read these books before, but for those who are new to these then you may be surprised if you are only aware of the Disney movie. Some of these tales are more violent than portrayed in cartoons, so be prepared, remember Tennyson wrote ‘Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw’.In all, these tales make for entertaining reading and this is both for young and old. Kipling’s writing here really brings to life the landscapes and characters, giving this a little more depth than is usual for such stories. Entertaining people for generations this looks like it will continue to do so for many more generations to come.

Johanna Basford does it again. A beautiful book, full of amazing images to colour. Once again the paper is exceptional quality, allowing for all colouring media to be used.If you don't have a Johanna Basford book in your collection, then go and this one, you will not be disappointed.I have all of Johanna Basford 's books to date and have never been disappointed, I fell in love with her art work from the first turn of the page, in the first book I owned,