Title: The Jungle Book
Author: Rudyard Kipling
Genre: Childrens Classic
Pages: 250
The Jungle Book is a collection of seven short fables set in the jungle, each of which is accompanied by a poem.
As someone who grew up watching the many different versions of The Jungle Book, this is sadly my first time actually reading the stories. I liked these stories for the most part. There was a lot more animal cruelty than I expected but it is about the jungle so go into this knowing there will be animal deaths and cruelty.
The first three stories are about Mowgli and his animal family. If you have only watched the movies, these three stories are all you probably expected this book to contain, much like I did, but the other four stories are about different animals in the jungle and ocean. I was surprised that I had actually read one story out of this collection during middle school english class, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. It was just as I remembered. The other three stories were just ok for me, which is probably why most of the world knows only Mowgli’s story.
Overall, I am glad I took the time to read this childhood classic, especially with the beautiful illustrations and interactive elements included in this edition. These elements really keep me reading because I wanted to interpret what they were meant to portray. I highly recommend the MinaLima collectors classics for this reason.
Content Warnings: Animal deaths. Elephants being captured and cruelly trained to be pack animals.
