The Jungle Book (Tor Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "IT was seven o'clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee Hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest, scratched himself, yawned,..." (more)
Key Phrases: sea catch, young mule, new elephants, Kala Nag, Little Toomai, Shere Khan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

No child should be allowed to grow up without reading The Jungle Books. Published in 1894 and 1895, the stories crackle with as much life and intensity as ever. Rudyard Kipling pours fuel on childhood fantasies with his tales of Mowgli, lost in the jungles of India as a child and adopted into a family of wolves. Mowgli is brought up on a diet of Jungle Law, loyalty, and fresh meat from the kill. Regular adventures with his friends and enemies among the Jungle-People--cobras, panthers, bears, and tigers--hone this man-cub's strength and cleverness and whet every reader's imagination. Mowgli's story is interspersed with other tales of the jungle, such as "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," lending depth and diversity to our understanding of Kipling's India. In much the same way Mowgli is carried away by the Bandar-log monkeys, young readers will be caught up by the stories, swinging from page to page, breathless, thrilled, and terrified. (Ages 9 to 12) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1894. The Second Jungle Book, published in 1895, contains stories linked by poems. The stories tell mostly of Mowgli, an Indian boy who is raised by wolves from infancy and who learns self-sufficiency and wisdom from the jungle animals. The book describes the social life of the wolf pack and, more fancifully, the justice and natural order of life in the jungle. Among the animals whose tales are related in the work are Akela the wolf; Baloo the brown bear; Shere Khan, the boastful Bengal tiger who is Mowgli's enemy; Kaa the python; Bagheera the panther; and Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Tor Classics (February 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812504690
• ISBN-13: 978-0812504699
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

230 of 233 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Jungle Book - Malvina Vogel Adaptation, January 6, 2003

By	Chris J. Sexton (Fillmore, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Jungle Book (Great Illustrated Classics) (Library Binding)

Don't get me wrong. Kipling's Jungle Book is Awesome. The problem with this adaptation is that it is not Kipling's Jungle Book. Be careful what you order!! The language and tone of Vogel's adaptation is changed in ways that strip the stories of the sense of pride and self that made the originals such tremendous lessons, and of the subtle darkness that gave them the ring of truth. It's almost worse than Disney's handiwork, because in a certain sense it purports to be the orginal story!

Some examples:

Original Version: Ye choose and ye do not choose! What talk is this of choosing? By the bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into your dog's den for my fair dues? It is I, Shere Khan who speak!

Adapted Version: How dare you talk of choosing. I, Shere Khan, demand that cub.
***
Original Version: They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera - the Panther - and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away.

Adapted Version: After my mother died there, I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and escaped.

***
Original Version: He is a man, a man's child, and from the marrow of my bones I hate him!

Adapted Version: Remember, he is just a man.

****
Original Version: "Also, I paid for him with a bull when he was accepted. The worth of a bull is little, but Bagheera's honor is something that he will perhaps fight for," said Bagheera in his gentlest voice. "A bull paid ten years ago!" the Pack snarled. "What do we care for bones ten years old?"
"Or for a pledge?" said Bagheera, his white teeth bared under his lip. "Well are ye called the Free People!"

Adapted Version: And I paid for him with a bull when he was accepted into the pack," added Bagheera. "What do we care about a bull we ate ten years ago" snarled the young wolves. "What do you care about promise either?" snapped Bagheera.

And so on....

Virtually every paragraph is watered down like this. Was this done to make it easier reading for today's reading-challenged youths? Or to introduce PC to this classic (we obviously can't have any talk of "brown men", killing, hatred, or of fighting for principles). Whatever the reason, the entire flavor of the original is changed. Kipling was doing fine without the help.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Altering Kipling's prose?!, October 3, 2005

By	Robert Walker-Smith (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just read the previous review (about 'simplifying' the
language in Jungle Book). I am reading the ORIGINAL
text JB to my eight year old son (for over a week now),
and he's not once indicated that the language puzzles
him. He did ask me why Mowgli uses thee and thou
and wouldst while talking with the animals, but
accepted my explanation without demur.

Reminds me of the lines from an Elinor Wylie poem
"Our mutable tongue is like the sea
Curled wave and shattering thunder-fit;
Dangle in strings of sand shall he
Who smooths the ripples out of it."
Say it out loud, and feel what it does to your
mouth and face - that's what Kipling's prose
does.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn the Jungle Law, it's still in effect, May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Jungle Book & Second Jungle Book (Wordsworth Childern's Classics) (Wordsworth Collection) (Paperback)

The story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the jungles of 19th century India, charmed me when I was young no less than it does today. Kipling wrote this to celebrate his love of India and it's wild animals as well as to show again some of his frequent themes of honor, loyalty, and perserverance. While his writing may seem 'dated' to some, to others the truths he includes rise above politics and 'current correctness'. Baloo the Bear, Shere Khan the Tiger, Bagheera the Panther, Kaa the Python were all childhood friends of mine, and reading these Jungle Book stories to your own children today will result in their exposure to such old fashioned concepts as sticking by your friends in adversity, helping your family, relying on yourself. Good lessons then, good lessons now. Mowgli learns the value of 'good manners' early on, learns that 'all play and no work' leads to unexpected troubles, learns that thoughtless actions can have devasting consequences. By showing Mowgli in an often dangerous 'all animal' world, we see reflections of modern human problems presented in a more subtle light. Kipling leads children down the jungle path into adventures beyond their day to day imagining and along the way, he weaves subtle points in and out of the stories, he shows the value of 'doing for yourself', of 'learning who to trust'. All of this in a tale of childhood adventure that's never been equaled. The book is over 100 years old now, and there are terms & concepts from the age of Empire that aren't 'correct' today. Parents can edit as needed as they read bedtime stories, but I've found that children learn early on that the world changes, and that some ideas that were popular long ago did not prove to be correct. Explaining this, too, is a part of parenting. Some of our current popular ideas may not stand the test of time, but I suspect that 100 years from now parents will still read the Jungle Book to their children. And the children will still be charmed, thrilled and instructed in valuable life-lessons.