Description
Book SynopsisNo man''s cub can run with the people of the Jungle,'' howled Shere Khan. ''Give him to me!
When Father Wolf and Mother Wolf find a man-cub in the jungle, they anger the greedy tiger Shere Khan by refusing to surrender it to his jaws, and rear the child as their own. But when little Mowgli grows up, the pack can no longer defend him. He must learn the secret of fire, and with the help of his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, he faces his nemesis at last.
BACKSTORY: Learn about India's jungles and the animals that live there!
Trade ReviewThe 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 *
