The Jungle Book - Softcover

Kipling, Rudyard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1479422231 ISBN 13: 9781479422234

Publisher: A Kipling Book, 2016

Synopsis

The tales in "The Jungle Book" (1894) -- as well as those in "The Second Jungle Book" (1895) -- are fables, using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The verses of "The Law of the Jungle," for example, lay down rules for the safety of individuals, families, and communities. Kipling put in them nearly everything he knew or "heard or dreamed about the Indian jungle." Other readers have interpreted the work as allegories of the politics and society of the time. The best-known of them are the three stories revolving around the adventures of Mowgli, an abandoned "man cub" who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The most famous of the other four stories are "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," the story of a heroic mongoose, and "Toomai of the Elephants," the tale of a young elephant-handler. As with much of Kipling's work, each of the stories is followed by a piece of verse. "The Second Jungle Book" is available in a matching edition (Search for ISBN: 1479422436), as well as "Just So Stories" (Search for ISBN: 147942255X).

About this title

Review

"The Jungle Book was one of those rare books that I felt I was actually living as I read it" (Michael Morpurgo)

"The original stories of The Jungle Book surpass all rollicking Disneyfied expectations. On one level, the Mancub's education is pure entertainment; on another, the jungle is symbolic of Kipling's philosophy of life, a moral playground in which the young learn to swing on the vines of life" (The Times)

"The incantatory text of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books still rewards reading aloud" (Sunday Times)

"Around a century ago, Rudyard Kipling laid the foundations of modern children's literature with works such as The Jungle Book, Just So Stories and Puck of Pook's Hill. Far from the fusty Victorian conventions of the time, they were wild, magnificent stories that felt as though they'd always existed, stories people might have told each other in the caves" (Daily Telegraph)

"So what makes these different to any other set of classics? In a moment of inspiration Random House had the bright idea of actually asking Key stage 2 children what extra ingredients they could add to make children want to read. And does it work? Well, put it this way...my 13-year-old daughter announced that she had to read a book over the summer holiday and, without any prompting, spotted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas...and proceeded to read it! Now, if you knew my 13-year-old daughter, you would realise that this is quite remarkable. She reads texts, blogs and tags by the thousand - but this is the first book she has read since going to high school, so all hail Vintage Classics!" (National Association for the Teaching of English)

Book Description

Learn the ways of the jungle with little Mowgli the man-cub. Swing from the trees, befriend the animals, face your primal fears

Edition details

• Publisher: A Kipling Book
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1479422231
• ISBN 13: 9781479422234
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 132