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A review by katykelly
Into the Jungle: Stories for Mowgli by Katherine Rundell
5.0
Excellent, faithful prequel, stories about the characters you care about.
It's been a while since I read Kipling's original, but from the start the style and tone of this put me in mind of the stories and characters.
I loved these, five stories, each told to or about Mowgli the young boy, in the days before the stories of the Jungle Books.
There is humour as well as pathos in the origin stories of Kaa, Mowgli's wolf family, Baloo and Bagheera, and some wonderfully entertaining tales of the jungle linking Shere Khan to the characters and seeing the motivations behind the characters and how they might have come together for Kipling's own creation.
Clever, well thought-out, with fleshed-out animal characters. These are "stories of family and friendship, loyalty and jungle law", so quite loyal to Kipling's own themes.
Children will delight in small details: Mowgli's home "smelt reassuringly of wolf-breath and dry earth, unless the smallest of the wolf cubs, Bhedi, had farted."
There are characters that play walk-on roles that we all remember - Colonel Hathi for example.
And there is humour in Rundell's creation of the rats, here not a pest but rather a refined, "fair-minded and elegant" species who won't use one word when twenty will do: "'would you please to tate the first morsel of flesh of the delectable decaying carcass laid out by providence before us?'"
I thoroughly enjoyed this, it took me back to the reading of my childhood, and sits perfectly in my mind as a prequel to The Jungle Books. I can only comment on the text, not having seen an illustrated edition, though I imagine it would make an excellent gift judging by the cover (if I am allowed!) that I have seen.
A flowing style that feels older but isn't difficult to read for a contemporary young audience. The familiar characters will suck in readers, and the stories are exciting and rather funny, with superb links to the original.
For ages 9-14. And any adults who love the classics, this would complement a Kipling on the shelf.
With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.
It's been a while since I read Kipling's original, but from the start the style and tone of this put me in mind of the stories and characters.
I loved these, five stories, each told to or about Mowgli the young boy, in the days before the stories of the Jungle Books.
There is humour as well as pathos in the origin stories of Kaa, Mowgli's wolf family, Baloo and Bagheera, and some wonderfully entertaining tales of the jungle linking Shere Khan to the characters and seeing the motivations behind the characters and how they might have come together for Kipling's own creation.
Clever, well thought-out, with fleshed-out animal characters. These are "stories of family and friendship, loyalty and jungle law", so quite loyal to Kipling's own themes.
Children will delight in small details: Mowgli's home "smelt reassuringly of wolf-breath and dry earth, unless the smallest of the wolf cubs, Bhedi, had farted."
There are characters that play walk-on roles that we all remember - Colonel Hathi for example.
And there is humour in Rundell's creation of the rats, here not a pest but rather a refined, "fair-minded and elegant" species who won't use one word when twenty will do: "'would you please to tate the first morsel of flesh of the delectable decaying carcass laid out by providence before us?'"
I thoroughly enjoyed this, it took me back to the reading of my childhood, and sits perfectly in my mind as a prequel to The Jungle Books. I can only comment on the text, not having seen an illustrated edition, though I imagine it would make an excellent gift judging by the cover (if I am allowed!) that I have seen.
A flowing style that feels older but isn't difficult to read for a contemporary young audience. The familiar characters will suck in readers, and the stories are exciting and rather funny, with superb links to the original.
For ages 9-14. And any adults who love the classics, this would complement a Kipling on the shelf.
With thanks to Netgalley for the sample reading copy.