Just Finished Reading: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (FP: 1894) [256pp] 

As I (shockingly) didn’t spend my childhood years reading – never mind reading children’s classics like this – my ‘knowledge’ of The Jungle Book comes from the classic Disney cartoon version. So, it surprised me more than a little that this book wasn’t the novel I expected, but was instead a series of 7 short stories – only the first 3 covering the exploits of the man-cub Mowgli and the others we know so well from the silver screen.  The stories, ‘Mowgli’s Brothers’, ‘Kaa’s Hunting’ and ‘Tiger! Tiger!’ did follow (roughly) what I was expecting with Mowgli being adopted by wolves when his farther is killed by the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli learning the ways (and languages) of the jungle and the ultimate battle with Shere Khan. Complete with songs (which I’ve always assumed that Disney added for the movie) this was an interesting insight into the literary foundations of the cartoon classic. 

The other 4 stories (with one exception) were new to me. ‘The White Seal’ was an odd one – telling the tale of – unsurprisingly – a white seal, distinct from his grey family who seeks a safer place away from human hunters despite the laughter, incomprehension and bullying from his own generation. ‘Toomai of the Elephants’ was odd in a different way where a younger elephant driver is shown (or stumbles upon) the legendary ‘dance of the elephants’ which changes his life. ‘’His Majesty’s Servants’ is probably the blandest and least interesting of the bunch taking place on a stormy night on a parade ground and is mostly conversations between various draught animals. 

My favourite of the bunch – and the exception of the 4 – was ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi' about the famous adopted mongoose who protects his human ‘family’ from a pair of cobras. I must have come across this story – possibly in my early years of school – a LONG time ago as I couldn’t remember many of the details but I thought it was very well told, had bags of tension and would’ve thrilled any child it was read to before they nodded off to sleep. It was the highlight of the book. An interesting read overall and recommended to those who, like me, missed this classic growing up.