Rating: 
Summary: Kipling's original masterpiece
Review: I've been looking for the "Jungle Book" book since I watched both Disney films. Both are wonderful but I do understand what reviewer rockdoc28 meant by there being a watering down of Rudyard Kipling's work.
However, has anyone watched a Chuck Jones' cartoon?
Known as Charles Jones during the earlier cartoon age with Merry Melodies and Loony Tunes, when Jones took over directing the Tom & Jerry cartoons during the 60's, he took a well-gifted hand at directing animated films based on Kipling's stories. Namely "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and even "The White Seal"(the latter I didn't know was within "The Jungle Book"). Chuck Jones really did these stories more justice than even Disney and he should have been given the right to redo the entire collection but, I digress... However, to rockdoc28,- and others- I found the comparison/contrast of original and adaptation helpful! So thanks! Also, to Jorge Frid and rockdoc28, the particualr edition I own I found when I attended Downtown Miami's annual Book Fair International.
It's called the Illustrated Junior Library by Grosset & Dunlap Publishers (c) 1950.
It is Kipling's original voice and style and it's simply magnificent.
Rating:
Summary: Values taught by Surrogates (The Animals)
Review: It is a fine book. The virtues that it teaches are what make it a wonderful read for children. It is a morality play disguised as a child's fantasy. A young boy is taught the value of family, loyalty, courage and honor. I'd highly recommend it for any child.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: Kipling's Jungle Book is one of the great classics of children's literature. The central story, that of Mowgli, is an engaging adventure with a much deeper theme of alienation, abandonment and the struggle to find a place for oneself in the world. This partially reflects Kipling's own conflict as a Briton who was both extremely racist and imperialistic yet tied very much to India. Mowgli's story also reflects Kipling's views of race through the racialization of the animal characters. Parents should be warned that in other parts of the book, Kipling's very outdated view of race is much more overt.
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Summary: Kipling's Jungle Tale
Review: Mowgli's adventure in "THE JUNGLE BOOK" also set the stage for other stories at which Kipling as written for children including: "THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK and RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI". Over the years, Rudyard Kipling's "THE JUNGLE BOOK" has been branded a classic because of its timeless entertainment, interesting concepts and over all passionate influence in the world of literature. After seeing all the movies as a child, I felt it was necessary to read the origin so I ventured into the book itself. Reading as both man and beast characters come to life to entertain the reader page after page. Rudyard Kipling being an English writer, based most of his work in the land of India where he was raised. Kipling used the setting to catch the readers attention about a land that seemed almost to unbelievable to exist. Though " THE JUNGLE BOOK" is indeed a children's book. Even a person my age can read this story and appreciate what the author had accomplished. Anyone can read this story and see how easy it is to use your imagination to slip into the world which Rudyard Kipling created in "THE JUNGLE BOOK". This was not just his prize piece, it was his legacy.
Mowgli's adventure in "THE JUNGLE BOOK" also set the stage for other stories at which Kipling as written for children including: "THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK and RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI". Over the years, Rudyard Kipling's "THE JUNGLE BOOK" has been branded a classic because of its timeless entertainment, interesting concepts and over all passionate influence in the world of literature. After seeing all the movies as a child, I felt it was necessary to read the origin so I ventured into the book itself. Reading as both man and beast characters come to life to entertain the reader page after page. Rudyard Kipling being an English writer, based most of his work in the land of India where he was raised. Kipling used the setting to catch the readers attention about a land that seemed almost to unbelievable to exist. Though " THE JUNGLE BOOK" is indeed a children's book. Even a person my age can read this story and appreciate what the author had accomplished. Anyone can read this story and see how easy it is to use your imagination to slip into the world which Rudyard Kipling created in "THE JUNGLE BOOK". This was not just his prize piece, it was his legacy.
Rating:
Summary: great stories for young and old
Review: Since he wrote these stories during the several years he spent in Brattleboro, VT, we of the North Country have a particular affinity for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books. The most familiar are the Mowgli tales, basis for the very good Disney movie. Mowgli is an Indian infant who is lost in the jungle after Shere Khan (the tiger) kills his family. Bagheera (the black panther) places him with a wolf family that has a newborn litter. Mowgli's new "parents" and Bagheera and Baloo (the brown bear) sponsor him for membership in the Wolf Pack and, much to Shere Khan's chagrin, he is admitted. Mowgli is raised according to Jungle Law, but all the while Shere Khan is plotting his revenge and ingratiating himself with the younger wolves. Eventually, he leads a rebellion against Akela, the pack's aging leader and attacks Mowgli, who beats him away with a burning firebrand. In these and the several other Mowgli stories--there are some prequels--Kipling strikes a nice balance between anthropomorphizing the animals and understanding Mowgli's natural superiority.Also appearing in this collection is a story I've loved since I first saw the Classic Cartoon version--Rikki Tikki Tavi. It tells the story of an intrepid young mongoose and his life or death battle to protect an Indian villa from a couple of particularly unpleasant cobras. Rikki Tikki Tavi has always seemed to me to be one of the great heroes in all of literature. These are great stories for young and old. For folks who worry about Kipling's potentially imperialist, racist or racialist overtones (see review), rest assured, these tales are free of such themes. They offer an excellent opportunity to introduce kids to the work of a true master storyteller. GRADE: A
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Summary: The Jungle Book
Review: The book The Jungle Book is a book about a young boy who was found by a black panther in the jungle. The panther took the boy and for ten years the boy grew up with wolfs and learned how to scratch and pick out thorns of paws. The he goes and learns different things from different animals. But one animal that hates him is a tiger; because he thinks some day he will be hunter. After the tiger tries to kill the boy the boy goes and live with humans. I like this book because it has bigger words and it has good fun with animals. I recommend it to anyone. And the movie is even better.
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Summary: The Jewel in the Crown
Review: The Jungle Book is the Jewel in the Crown of Kiplings prodigious career. For those few who have trouble reading it (ie - "Huh?" and the child who said it was like reading cardboard...)Try this: Get the unabridged audiocassette version. Kiplings rich use of language is something that must be heard - if not in the minds ear, perhaps hearing it out loud would be of use. Without hearing the authors voice - the story might seem --- staid. Especially to a generation who only know the disneyfied version of the story. As to the accusation of it being somehow racist or sexist... Um? The hero of the story IS a little brown boy.
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Summary: Jungle Book was great
Review: The Jungle Book was a wonderful novel. It is about an Indian infant called Mowgli who is lost in the jungle, but then was placed in a wolf family. He grows up in the jungle therefore having no manners or any sense of human life. The Jungle Book show how friends can always be mad but then they come around. And they will always be there for you no matter what, if not then they aren't true friends. There is great ambition in Mowgli. His story is great for all ages. A lot of the characters are explained in detail and you grow to actually love the animals. I think all kids should have read the book rather than see the movie becuase the book is much better. Some of the values showed in this book are loyalty, trust honor, and courage. This book is valued by many children and it should be read to them as young kids to also expand their imagination. I think that this book was better than a lot of the books that Kipling has written before like "Rikki-tikki-tavi" or "Kim". I guess that I love the whole jungle scene better than any other of his books.
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Summary: WELL BEYOND DISNEY
Review: The Jungle Book When we say "The Jungle Book" most of us invariably think of Disney's films, both animated and live action, that have become the norm for Rudyard Kipling's immortal children's stories. While the Disney interpretation is fun and enchanting, it makes a dramatic departure from the actual stories and takes considerable creative license in telling just a part of the Kipling stories. Even what we get from Disney falls considerably short of the applicable parts of Kipling's original that Disney used. What? Kaa, the snake, as Mowgli's friend and powerful ally? What? A deeper story of Mowgli's experience as a wolf and his relationships with Mother wolf and Father wolf? Oh yes, much, much more. Kipling's original masterpiece also includes several other wonderful chapters about the continuing adventures of Mowgli and also adds the marvelous tale of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the heroic mongoose whose battles with wicked cobras in an Indian garden easily matches Mowgli's showdowns with Shere Khan. The book also includes the tale of "The White Seal." This short chapter of "The Jungle Book(s)" provides a wonderful commentary, in the form of animal parable, on human society, competition, male ego and human pride. Our hero, Kotick, the white seal, through his fearless explorations and his willingness to fight for a dream, changes the minds of his parents, his peers and his society for the better. The invitation to each of us is very clear to find and free the white seal that exists in all of us. Don't get balled up in the notion that "The Jungle Book" is just for kids. A look beneath Kipling's wonderful prose reveals, like most great children's classics, that the author is using the unintimidating forum of children's literature to speak to kids of all ages with the hope that somehow we'll all finally get it. Buy the book, read it, read it to the kids you know and learn the lesson. Douglas McAllister
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Summary: A wonderful coming of age story (contains a minor spoiler).
Review: The Jungle Books (parts 1 and 2) are wonderful novels that focus primarily on the exploits, adventures, and maturation of an orphaned boy named Mowgli. Mowgli is raised in the jungle by the animals and is educated in the laws and ways of the various jungle dwellers. Loyalty, trust, honor, honesty, and courage are but a few of the values championed in these books. The Jungle Books also remind us that childhood doesn't last forever, and eventually we all must leave it behind to assume greater responsibility in the world. As Kaa the Python said in the book "Having cast the skin, we may not creep into it afresh." These novels are pure magic.
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