book data
2136 ratings, 3.95 average rating, 137 reviews
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published
August 1st 2006
(first published 1894)
by Templar Publishing
binding
Hardcover, 224 pages
isbn
1840117184
(isbn13: 9781840117189)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2750)
Read in August, 2008
eBook
Once again, I'm struck by the savagery that resonates throughout Kipling's writing. It would be so easy to think of The Jungle Book in a more Disney-fied light: talking animals, singing, the rhythmic cadences of a fairy tale or lullaby. But overarching all that is the ever-present reminder that the world of the jungle is a world of nature, red in tooth and claw. Mowgli is raised by wolves and instructed by Baloo for the explicit purpose of survival in a harsh world that active...more
Once again, I'm struck by the savagery that resonates throughout Kipling's writing. It would be so easy to think of The Jungle Book in a more Disney-fied light: talking animals, singing, the rhythmic cadences of a fairy tale or lullaby. But overarching all that is the ever-present reminder that the world of the jungle is a world of nature, red in tooth and claw. Mowgli is raised by wolves and instructed by Baloo for the explicit purpose of survival in a harsh world that active...more
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Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
kids who like adventure stories
I read this to Nick because I read it myself as a first grader. (Yes, I was a precocious reader.) Since I haven't even glanced at it in the quarter century of intervening years, it was interesting to come back to it.
In some ways I was disappointed as an adult reader. The formal, quasi-Elizabethan language the animals use to talk to each other struck me as pretentious, which I don't believe was at all my original reaction. There was that almost total lack of female characters that is almost ...more
In some ways I was disappointed as an adult reader. The formal, quasi-Elizabethan language the animals use to talk to each other struck me as pretentious, which I don't believe was at all my original reaction. There was that almost total lack of female characters that is almost ...more
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at the very base of the himalayas, there's the lush green of tropical rainforests: rhododendron blossoms, rivers, tigers, snakes; mowgli's rainforests, if you know the jungle books. but ten days of walking (there are no roads, of course) bring you to the high altitude desert of jomsom: windswept, desolate, utterly beautiful in a barren, bleak way. and still, the mountains tower thousands of feet above. these books imbued my childhood with wonder.
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Yeah, yeah, ignore the White Man's Burden stuff. Kipling is one of the best storytellers who ever lived, and neither the author's obnoxious politics nor a complete butchery of this wonderful wonderful story in its many terrible movie incarnations can take away the fact that the Mowgli stories of this and the Second Jungle Book are some of the greatest tales ever created. Read this, for real. It's a classic.
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Read in November, 2008
This book was very different than I expected. I was thinking of the Disney movie with a goofy skinny kid who plays with the animals in the jungle and is always getting into trouble. Really, though, it's a group of compelling high adventure stories of a young man raised by wolves who becomes master of the jungle through his wits, cunning, and strength. Not normally the type of book that would appeal to me, but Kipling is a master storyteller and while I read it I could almost smell and feel the j...more
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Read in July, 2008
Reading *The Jungle Book*, by Rudyard Kipling, (1910) The Century Company; was cool, This is a book that holds a total of seven of Kipling's stories having to deal with Jungle life and jungle animals, or animals of the wild;
1. Mowgli's Brothers
2. Kaa's Hunting
3. Tiger! Tiger!
4. The White Seal
5. Rikki Tikki Tavi
6. Toomai of the Elephants
7. Her Majesty's Servants
I had seen the Disney Movies about Mowgli, but the book showed so much more going on, Disney really waters down the bra...more
1. Mowgli's Brothers
2. Kaa's Hunting
3. Tiger! Tiger!
4. The White Seal
5. Rikki Tikki Tavi
6. Toomai of the Elephants
7. Her Majesty's Servants
I had seen the Disney Movies about Mowgli, but the book showed so much more going on, Disney really waters down the bra...more
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Read in June, 2008
Before Tarzan there was Mowgli, lost in a jungle in India as a child and taken in by a family of wolves. He is raised by the animals of the jungle, and has adventures with them. He learns loyalty and devotion and the Jungle Law. Every small boy eventually grows up but, to pararphrase Kipling, his adult adventures are a different story. Written in 1894 and 1895 the two collections of adventure/jungle/wilderness stories are included in one volume. Mowgli and his stories are the vast majority,...more
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Read in January, 1962
recommends it for:
Fans of stories about animals and/or jungle adventure
Lost in the jungles of 19th-century India (the book was first published in 1894) as a toddler, little Mowgli is rescued from the vicious tiger Shere Khan by an adoptive family of wolves, who raise him as part of their pack. The author's various species of jungle animals exhibit many traits and behaviors characteristic of real ones (Kipling was born and raised in India, and his setting is depicted with a deftness born of first-hand observation); but he also endows them with a culture and languag...more
Read in June, 1984
I'm sure most people have heard of Mowgli and the wolves and Shere Kahn and Bagheera and Baloo and all. And almost as many people know of Rikki-tikki-tavi (mostly because of the movie, which was pretty good for animated movies of that time.) And the copy of the book I had while growing up also had the story of The White Seal and Toomai of the Elephants, also very clever stories. But the copy at my grandmother's house was my favorite, because it ALSO has "Quiquern" (a story of the Inuit...more
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Read in May, 2005
The Jungle Book was a Project Gutenberg e-text that I read in spare moments on my PDA - it's well suited to this type of reading, as each chapter is more or less stand alone.
I had forgotten that (contrary to Disney) only the first half of this book deals with Mowgli the Man-Cub and his adventures in the jungle. The remainder of the book is short stories and related poetry about wild (and not so wild) animals, mostly in India.
My personal favorite is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - possibly because I...more
I had forgotten that (contrary to Disney) only the first half of this book deals with Mowgli the Man-Cub and his adventures in the jungle. The remainder of the book is short stories and related poetry about wild (and not so wild) animals, mostly in India.
My personal favorite is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - possibly because I...more
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I'm reading this on the Gutenberg site (woo, free classics). It's just... outstanding. Seriously incredible. It makes the Disney movie a profane mockery of a great and brutal story, and an insult to children. Read this. Have your kids read it (say, age 10 and up).
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Have been reading this book to the girls - after putting them to bed tonight I picked it up again and finished it. It's an old, yellowish, and cracking edition - different from the Signet here - but the one I read growing up. It is a remarkable story, so much deeper and darker than the cotton candy Disney served up (or frankly that Edgar Rice Burroughs served up in its wake). Baloo and Kaa are serious characters and Mowgli's interactions with the Man-pack much grimmer (and more human) than th...more
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I hadn't picked up my Kipling collection in a long time and references to it in "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" made me long for my old friends. Old friends in Rikki Tikki Tavi and Toomai of the Elephants, but new discoveries, too, as I had never read the real Jungle Book with its stories of the destructive Red Dog the heartbreak of The Spring Running and the lessons of Puran Bhagat. Here the wisdom, humor and fearsomeness of Bagheera, Kaa, Grey Brother, Baloo shine through as they cann...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone, really
My mom gave me a lot of classics when I was growing up, all big-text on pulpy paper and bright covers, perfect for the young book nerd. I loved the Jungle Books, I always thought she'd read them too, but talking to her recently, I guess she never read much Kipling. I'd forgotten that the first Jungle Book has side stories about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and the bit about the elephants dancing and whatnot. Only the first half is really about Mowgli at all. The point of reading this, besides my obvious add...more
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Read in July, 2008
This story is great. I had never read it before and so I decided to read it last time that I was at the library. It is a pretty light read and is full of adventure and fun. The thing that is hardest about the book is that there are different stories and each chapter you have a new character to remember. Don't be surprised when you read the story that the popular cartoon has little resemblance to the story. I liked the book better but that is my own opinion. I think that my favorite part wa...more
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Read in March, 2008
When I picked this book up again I did so without remembering this was the story of Mowgli. I'll admit, I don't love this book. It is superbly written. Indeed, a classic. Yet, I don't love it. I like it well enough for the classic that it is and I know my son will love it - it will be a fantastic bedtime book for me to read to him sometime this year. I just can't muster up any real affection for this story. This very well might be a deficiency within me, but it is what it is. I can readi...more
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An awesome story with kick ass names for noble and not so noble animal characters. What more could you want?
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I enjoyed this story and have read it at least half a dozen times. It might be time to reread it again.
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Read in January, 1958
recommended to Maureen by:
Miss Edith Wyattrecommends it for: everyone
In my usual methodical child way, when I got to the library shelf with the Kipling books on it, I read them all. I have to say, though, The Jungle Books rank right up there with other childhood classics. As a child, I completely believed that animals could talk, and I yearned to be reared in the jungle by wolves. Kipling wrote these stories with great heart, and obviously a great desire to pass along a reverence for all life. Don't let the children you love see the sanitized Disney version o...more
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Read in December, 2008
Well, that felt . . . disjointed. I loved the first couple of stories about Mowgli. Far bloodier than the Disney classic, of course. The last few Mowgliless stories were pretty boring. Particularly that last one about the queen's animals discussing the hierarchy of the pack animals. I phased out for most of it.
SPOILER:
If I read this with my kids, I'm going to stop with the skinning of Sher Kan.
SPOILER:
If I read this with my kids, I'm going to stop with the skinning of Sher Kan.
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quotes from this book
"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."
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