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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Loved the book. Why have I waited 56 years to read it :-)
This was one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while. Every story was a fantastical look into the lives of the animal kingdom, as imagined by Kipling. His love of India is in every page. ( With the exception of the White Seal)
If you've seen the Disney movies, I recommend reading the original Jungle Book. Incidentally, the Disney movie is based off of the story; Mowgli and his Brothers. My favourite tale is, Her Majesty's Servants.
Seeing the short songs and lullaby's at the start and end of each tale is great.
Highly recommended.
If you've seen the Disney movies, I recommend reading the original Jungle Book. Incidentally, the Disney movie is based off of the story; Mowgli and his Brothers. My favourite tale is, Her Majesty's Servants.
Seeing the short songs and lullaby's at the start and end of each tale is great.
Highly recommended.
Rating 3.5 ⭐️ This book follows the story of Mowgli a boy raised by wolves in the jungle. With the help of Baloo and Bagheera, Mowgli gains strength and wisdom to fight the fearsome Shere Khan. This was a really good middle grade read. You defiantly get more from the book vs the Disney movies. It your looking for something quick and easy to read I would defiantly recommend this one. #bookreview #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookcommunity #booksofinstagram #bookaddict #thejunglebook #rudyardkipling #bookdinosaur #bookreadingbee
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow. Uh. I did not like this at all. I know Kipling lives in a different time, but damn. I guess I thought people were all like EM Forster - at least I thought this book would be akin to A Passage to India. No shade to anyone who likes this, but I could not enjoy it. The switch in language is odd - why do the characters speak in Shakespearean English? What is the purpose? The racism was harder to take. I wouldn’t have been so upset if Kipling was critical of all forms of hierarchies, but he only critical of the cache system. (This is only if I ignored his physical descriptions of Indians and indigenous people).Coming from a white/Anglo-Indian with no connection to Hinduism or Buddhism or Sikhism or anything besides Christianity, this rubbed me the wrong way. The only story I enjoyed was “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” and I think it was only palatable because the characters were all white. The stories themselves - just looking at the plot - were interesting, but the racism was just...it ruined any good thing. Also - Naga and Nagini - the snakes are named after the 1/2 human 1/2 snake creatures? Maybe would’ve given points if one was named that, but they both were; he would have been more creative naming one George.
Rating: 3 stars - I liked it
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.
You can also find my reviews at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
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.
You can also find my reviews at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
Like, I imagine, most Americans (or at least most Americans 40 and under - ie Millenials and Younger) my only exposure was to Disney's The Jungle Book. I had no idea the original was a collection of short stories. I'd heard it was "Old School British Racist"TM. But I'm on a Project Gutenberg quest to read the classics that I never got to (school never assigned it). This was one of them. As I write this, I'm also reading Little Women for the first time. Overall, I liked The Jungle Book. Seems like it was meant to be an asiatic Aesop's Fables. It's cute and I'd probably share it with my kids. I didn't really care for all the songs/poems, but it's a neat bit of flavor. Yes, it does have some attitudes against Indians that are racist, but it doesn't permeate the stories. I think, depending on your ability to read those things, it's fine. And since it's free on Project Gutenberg, it's not like you're enriching someone for these attitutes.
I had to cut a LOT from the per-story status updates, below is what I would have put for each story if I had no character limit.
Mowgli's Brothers: Mowgli is able to walk, not Moses-like as in the Disney movie. And Shere Khan is a bit less clever and cool. Unlike Disney movie, the wolves specifically want to keep him so he will grow to a man and hunt Shere Khan because the tiger is such a menace (whose hunting risks bringing the ire of man to the jungle). Baloo is there at the beginning and he and Bagheera both speak for Mowgli. Baloo to teach (and he apparently teaches all the cubs) and Bagheera just to deny Shere Khan. Bagheera was born into a menagerie.
Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack: A poem. It's meh.
Kaa's Hunting: Jumps back in time to before the ending of Mowgli's brothers. I wonder why Kipling did it this way rather than as a novella or novel. In a reversal from the Disney movie - Bagheera wants to spoil Mowgli and Baloo wants to be serious about his lessons. This short story contains the essense of the Kaa and King Louis sections in the Disney movie. Differences: Kaa is an ally to Baloo and Bagheera (mostly). Kaa IS able to hypnotize, but not from his eyes. There is no King Louis in this version. Instead it's only the monkeys that kidnap him and they're all constantly distracted. I actually liked this version of Kaa a lot more as it was a lot scarier in the resolution of the story.
Road-Song of the Bandar-Log: encapsulates what we've learned about the Bandar-Log so far.
"Tiger! Tiger!": Mowgli joins a village. MAYBE is reunited with his parents. Or it may be another couple who lost their kid to Shere Khan. He does not fit in at first, naturally. And he bristles at made-up stories about the jungle. Looks like Disney stole Shere Khan's death for killing Mufasa in The Lion King. Interestingly, although Kipling sure had no such intentions, the story functions as a relatively good metaphor of how hard it can be to have feet in two camps - such as bi/multi-racial kids.
Perhaps problematic line: "Herding in India is one of the laziest things in the world."
Mowgli's Song: A song about killing Shere Khan
The White Seal: A modern telling of this story most likely would have gone the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer route. This, being a MUCH older story, does not have the white seal suffering any consequences for being white. He's proud and some seals ask him about it, but it's never a thing. The story ends up being a tale about perseverence and not succombing to your fate. Overall, not a bad fable.
Lukannon: Seal song.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: I remember seeing a cartoon of this from some series that my parents used to rent from the library. I think it was some PBS or PBS-like series that animated kids' short stories. I didn't know it came from The Jungle Book. I didn't remember the story involving humans; interesting. Basic, but fun adventure story in which Rikki-Tikki and the cobras wage war.
Darzee's Chant: another poem/song.
Toomai of the Elephants: The first story told from the point of view of humans - we hear none of the animals speak. I thought it was a fun story full of adventure that would be fun for a child to imagine, although it did have a couple problamatic sentences here and there. I think I prefer the animial-centric stories in this collection.
Shiv and the Grasshopper: another song/poem.
Her Majesty's Servants: This is a fun one that takes a hybrid approach. It's about, and features, talking animals, but the main character is a human who happens to understand them. The fun comes from the fact that the different animals all play different parts in the military and eac thinks they are the most important part of the military. You could easily redo it with Army, Navy, Marines, and Airforce in place of the different animals. This one's also got the most of the racist/imperialist ideas, but still nothing as bad as what I was expecting with the way people talk about this book. Interestingly, at least in the 1800s (or whenever it was written), Indians were considered "black" by the Brits.
Parade Song of the Animals: another song/poem
I had to cut a LOT from the per-story status updates, below is what I would have put for each story if I had no character limit.
Mowgli's Brothers: Mowgli is able to walk, not Moses-like as in the Disney movie. And Shere Khan is a bit less clever and cool. Unlike Disney movie, the wolves specifically want to keep him so he will grow to a man and hunt Shere Khan because the tiger is such a menace (whose hunting risks bringing the ire of man to the jungle). Baloo is there at the beginning and he and Bagheera both speak for Mowgli. Baloo to teach (and he apparently teaches all the cubs) and Bagheera just to deny Shere Khan. Bagheera was born into a menagerie.
Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack: A poem. It's meh.
Kaa's Hunting: Jumps back in time to before the ending of Mowgli's brothers. I wonder why Kipling did it this way rather than as a novella or novel. In a reversal from the Disney movie - Bagheera wants to spoil Mowgli and Baloo wants to be serious about his lessons. This short story contains the essense of the Kaa and King Louis sections in the Disney movie. Differences: Kaa is an ally to Baloo and Bagheera (mostly). Kaa IS able to hypnotize, but not from his eyes. There is no King Louis in this version. Instead it's only the monkeys that kidnap him and they're all constantly distracted. I actually liked this version of Kaa a lot more as it was a lot scarier in the resolution of the story.
Road-Song of the Bandar-Log: encapsulates what we've learned about the Bandar-Log so far.
"Tiger! Tiger!": Mowgli joins a village. MAYBE is reunited with his parents. Or it may be another couple who lost their kid to Shere Khan. He does not fit in at first, naturally. And he bristles at made-up stories about the jungle. Looks like Disney stole Shere Khan's death for killing Mufasa in The Lion King. Interestingly, although Kipling sure had no such intentions, the story functions as a relatively good metaphor of how hard it can be to have feet in two camps - such as bi/multi-racial kids.
Perhaps problematic line: "Herding in India is one of the laziest things in the world."
Mowgli's Song: A song about killing Shere Khan
The White Seal: A modern telling of this story most likely would have gone the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer route. This, being a MUCH older story, does not have the white seal suffering any consequences for being white. He's proud and some seals ask him about it, but it's never a thing. The story ends up being a tale about perseverence and not succombing to your fate. Overall, not a bad fable.
Lukannon: Seal song.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: I remember seeing a cartoon of this from some series that my parents used to rent from the library. I think it was some PBS or PBS-like series that animated kids' short stories. I didn't know it came from The Jungle Book. I didn't remember the story involving humans; interesting. Basic, but fun adventure story in which Rikki-Tikki and the cobras wage war.
Darzee's Chant: another poem/song.
Toomai of the Elephants: The first story told from the point of view of humans - we hear none of the animals speak. I thought it was a fun story full of adventure that would be fun for a child to imagine, although it did have a couple problamatic sentences here and there. I think I prefer the animial-centric stories in this collection.
Shiv and the Grasshopper: another song/poem.
Her Majesty's Servants: This is a fun one that takes a hybrid approach. It's about, and features, talking animals, but the main character is a human who happens to understand them. The fun comes from the fact that the different animals all play different parts in the military and eac thinks they are the most important part of the military. You could easily redo it with Army, Navy, Marines, and Airforce in place of the different animals. This one's also got the most of the racist/imperialist ideas, but still nothing as bad as what I was expecting with the way people talk about this book. Interestingly, at least in the 1800s (or whenever it was written), Indians were considered "black" by the Brits.
Parade Song of the Animals: another song/poem
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
We very much enjoyed this and the audible audiobook was well done!
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A