

It is a story of different kinds of wisdom: that of man, verses that of the jungle. It is a story of right and wrong and good and evil, a story of growing up and the responsibilities that come with it.

The story itself is better than the cut-down version Disney told (which is a brilliant movie, I think).

And this is a truly powerful thing when a book can do all that. Mr Kipling shows you a world you couldn’t possibly visit, a strange world with different rules, which in turn makes us think about our own world in different ways. The jungle is brought to life and you are transported across oceans and continents to India. Rudyard Kipling, however, weaves the story of the ‘man-cub’ brought up by the animals in the jungle so beautifully his words are as mesmerising as the hypnotism Kaa the snake uses to kill his prey. But The Jungle Book is a truly magical tale. Other grown-ups make children read his poems and other stories at high school, and that is often a sure way to turn teenagers off to reading, well some of them at least. He is certainly long dead, and his personal beliefs make some grown-ups think his writing isn’t worth reading.

Rudyard Kipling might sound like an old-fashioned writer. Five out of five STORGY typewriters – Longer Review – Most people have seen the movie, but Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is a very special story with much more in it than the film, as well as being a magically told tale. But Shere Khan, the strongest of the hunters, as well as the most alone, is biding his time until he can get the prey that he thinks is rightfully his. He learns the law of the jungle from Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther is his protector. Mowgli, the boy, grows up with the animals. This is the story of a wolf pack who adopt a human child, when the tiger, Shere Khan, hunts outside of his territory against the law of the jungle.
