The Jungle Book (Jungle Book, #1)

by Rudyard Kipling

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I had absolutely no expectations for this book. I knew it was a classic, and I believe classics are worth reading. I also knew (and am well familiar with) the Disney movie adaptations of the book. Beyond that, I had no idea what I would find here.

And you know what? The Jungle Book is actually quite charming!

This book is a collection of short stories and poetry. Most of the stories revolve around the adventures of Mowgli, the “manling”, but not all of them. There’s a tale of a seal, and a couple about dogs, and even conversation between multiple caravan animals. For he most part, though? These stories feature Mowgli and one or more of his jungle friends. Each story is self-contained, but the book is better as a whole, in my opinion.

Even in short story format, you get to know the recurring characters well enough to be pleased when they pop up as a cameos in another story. Outside the Jungle stories, the characters are one-story-only. Which is fine – honestly? These other stories are not impressive or endearing. Baloo and Bagheera are favorites, as well as Kaa the Python (as may be surprising for those who grew up on the Disney version). Newcomer Akela is a good character as well.

The formatting of this book works well, using a poem to transition between stories. The way my edition is set up, the poem is related to the previous story. I’m not sure if it’s universal, but I like the way it worked in mine and I thought the transitions were very successful. I liked the poems well enough, and they didn’t intrude too much on the story.

If The Jungle Book was the type of book you’d written off as a children’s story, or as a dusty old classic, I would highly recommend giving this book a second chance. It’s charming and enjoyable, and unique in its own way. There are a few turns of phrases that are a little cringy, but because this book so heavily relies on the animals and Mowgli’s perspectives, the traces of racism are very minor, and only present in a couple stories. Honestly, even for an animal book (I know a lot of people have opinions about those – I don’t typically enjoy them myself) this is very good.