…The Jungle Book [is] one of the most thrilling and vivid fantasies ever written. Forget about the […] Disney version, in which Kaa is the baddie, this stuff makes your hair stand on end, it’s so alive to what it must feel like to be an animal. Mowgli’s arrival at the wolves’ cave, pursued by the evil tiger Shere Khan, his upbringing by the wolves, his adventures in the jungle and attempt to go back to living among men is full of savagery and beauty and excitement. Interleaved among the Mowgli stories are other great animal tales – about Rikki Tikki Tavi the mongoose who takes on two deadly cobras living in an Indian garden, and fights them to the death; and about a white seal who finds the one place where seals can be safe. You do need a bit of patience in the beginning with Kipling, but he’s worth it.
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The Jungle Book is made up of a series of charming and amusing short stories, with surprisingly adult subjects. Well written with lovable characters, the book is very much a product of the colonial time that it was written in, but the themes are absolutely timeless.
The kindle version is well formatted and easy to read, and the illustrations are lovely despite being in black and white. The link to the audiobook is on the last page.
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I hadn’t realised until now that The Jungle Book is actually a number of short stories and songs or verses. The most familiar is the first, Mowgli’s brothers, about the man cub raised by wolves who has to take on his sworn enemy Shere Khan. The next one is The White Seal. In this story Kotick the seal dedicates himself to searching for a new home for his fellow seals, one where they aren’t living with the threat of man. The third is Rikki Tikki Tavi, about a young mongoose of the same name who takes on cobras to protect his adopted human family. Next comes Toomai of the Elephants which relates the experience of a young boy from a long line of elephant handlers who has a unique bond and a one off experience with the elephant his father handles. Finally come Her Majesty’s Servants, which recounts the overheard conversation of a group of Army animals.
The language in places is archaic, and elsewhere exotic, reflecting the settings of the stories and Kipling’s background. Throughout the stories the animals are given human traits and the tales are moral stories, reflections on human society or both. I don’t think they would be an easy read for a young person primarily because of the language used, particularly in Mowgli’s Brothers, but they do make wonderful stories I fully plan on reading my little girl when she’s bigger. There are parts that might make some people uncomfortable, such as Mowgli’s killing of Shere Khan and the aftermath, so I’d urge caution if you are thinking of these stories for very young children.
I particularly enjoyed Rikki Tikki Tavi, as the mongoose hero is such a lovely, funny character, and the conversation between the Army animals, as they discuss their different fears and strengths is wonderful. I have no doubt I will be going back to The Jungle Book and dipping into the stories on their own rather than reading them all in one go, and no doubt I’ll be looking to add more Kipling to my kindle. A note of warning though – the free version is very poorly formatted, with no clear breaks between the stories and verses which I found confusing when I didn’t expect it to be more than one story, and will make navigating in future more difficult. If formatting is a bugbear for you I’d suggest getting another version.
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One of the greatest children’s books ever – read it!,
…The Jungle Book [is] one of the most thrilling and vivid fantasies ever written. Forget about the […] Disney version, in which Kaa is the baddie, this stuff makes your hair stand on end, it’s so alive to what it must feel like to be an animal. Mowgli’s arrival at the wolves’ cave, pursued by the evil tiger Shere Khan, his upbringing by the wolves, his adventures in the jungle and attempt to go back to living among men is full of savagery and beauty and excitement. Interleaved among the Mowgli stories are other great animal tales – about Rikki Tikki Tavi the mongoose who takes on two deadly cobras living in an Indian garden, and fights them to the death; and about a white seal who finds the one place where seals can be safe.
You do need a bit of patience in the beginning with Kipling, but he’s worth it.
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|Excellent book,
The Jungle Book is made up of a series of charming and amusing short stories, with surprisingly adult subjects. Well written with lovable characters, the book is very much a product of the colonial time that it was written in, but the themes are absolutely timeless.
The kindle version is well formatted and easy to read, and the illustrations are lovely despite being in black and white. The link to the audiobook is on the last page.
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|Great short stories, poor formatting,
I hadn’t realised until now that The Jungle Book is actually a number of short stories and songs or verses. The most familiar is the first, Mowgli’s brothers, about the man cub raised by wolves who has to take on his sworn enemy Shere Khan. The next one is The White Seal. In this story Kotick the seal dedicates himself to searching for a new home for his fellow seals, one where they aren’t living with the threat of man. The third is Rikki Tikki Tavi, about a young mongoose of the same name who takes on cobras to protect his adopted human family. Next comes Toomai of the Elephants which relates the experience of a young boy from a long line of elephant handlers who has a unique bond and a one off experience with the elephant his father handles. Finally come Her Majesty’s Servants, which recounts the overheard conversation of a group of Army animals.
The language in places is archaic, and elsewhere exotic, reflecting the settings of the stories and Kipling’s background. Throughout the stories the animals are given human traits and the tales are moral stories, reflections on human society or both. I don’t think they would be an easy read for a young person primarily because of the language used, particularly in Mowgli’s Brothers, but they do make wonderful stories I fully plan on reading my little girl when she’s bigger. There are parts that might make some people uncomfortable, such as Mowgli’s killing of Shere Khan and the aftermath, so I’d urge caution if you are thinking of these stories for very young children.
I particularly enjoyed Rikki Tikki Tavi, as the mongoose hero is such a lovely, funny character, and the conversation between the Army animals, as they discuss their different fears and strengths is wonderful. I have no doubt I will be going back to The Jungle Book and dipping into the stories on their own rather than reading them all in one go, and no doubt I’ll be looking to add more Kipling to my kindle. A note of warning though – the free version is very poorly formatted, with no clear breaks between the stories and verses which I found confusing when I didn’t expect it to be more than one story, and will make navigating in future more difficult. If formatting is a bugbear for you I’d suggest getting another version.
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