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Title: The Jungle Book: A Novelization by Mel Gilden, Stephen Sommers, Rudyard Jungle Book Kipling ISBN: 0-06-106287-1 Publisher: Harpercollins Juvenile Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A True Original
Comment: The Jungle Books are usually marketed as juvenile fiction. True, this is essential reading for children, but it's even deeper when you read it as an adult.
Although "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "The White Seal" are just as good as the least of the Mowgli stories, it is the various tales of the boy raised in the jungles of India that are - and justifiably - the heart of the collection.
As a baby, Mowgli is found and raised by a clan of wolves and three godfatherly mentors who each teach him about life in different ways - Baloo the Bear, who teaches him the technical laws he'll need to survive; Kaa the Python, the nearly archtypal figure who teaches him even deeper lessons; and Bagheera the Panther, who perhaps loves Mowgli most of all but understands all too well the implications of the ambiguous humanity of the boy he's come to care for.
The stories have it all, from the alternately humorous and frightening "Kaa's Hunting", where Mowgli learns an important lesson about friendship and it's responsibility, to the epic "Red Dog" that reads like something out of Homer, to "Letting in the Jungle" which, without giving anything away contains a disturbing paragraph that's both glaring and a long time in coming if you've read between the lines in the previous Mowgli stories and yet at the same time so subtle you can almost miss it's importance.
If you didn't read it as a child, read it now. If you did, read it again as an adult.
Rating: 5
Summary: Learn the Jungle Law, it's still in effect
Comment: The story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the jungles of 19th century India, charmed me when I was young no less than it does today. Kipling wrote this to celebrate his love of India and it's wild animals as well as to show again some of his frequent themes of honor, loyalty, and perserverance. While his writing may seem 'dated' to some, to others the truths he includes rise above politics and 'current correctness'. Baloo the Bear, Shere Khan the Tiger, Bagheera the Panther, Kaa the Python were all childhood friends of mine, and reading these Jungle Book stories to your own children today will result in their exposure to such old fashioned concepts as sticking by your friends in adversity, helping your family, relying on yourself. Good lessons then, good lessons now. Mowgli learns the value of 'good manners' early on, learns that 'all play and no work' leads to unexpected troubles, learns that thoughtless actions can have devasting consequences. By showing Mowgli in an often dangerous 'all animal' world, we see reflections of modern human problems presented in a more subtle light. Kipling leads children down the jungle path into adventures beyond their day to day imagining and along the way, he weaves subtle points in and out of the stories, he shows the value of 'doing for yourself', of 'learning who to trust'. All of this in a tale of childhood adventure that's never been equaled. The book is over 100 years old now, and there are terms & concepts from the age of Empire that aren't 'correct' today. Parents can edit as needed as they read bedtime stories, but I've found that children learn early on that the world changes, and that some ideas that were popular long ago did not prove to be correct. Explaining this, too, is a part of parenting. Some of our current popular ideas may not stand the test of time, but I suspect that 100 years from now parents will still read the Jungle Book to their children. And the children will still be charmed, thrilled and instructed in valuable life-lessons.
Rating: 5
Summary: Kipling's original masterpiece
Comment: I've been looking for the "Jungle Book" book since I watched both Disney films. Both are wonderful but I do understand what reviewer rockdoc28 meant by there being a watering down of Rudyard Kipling's work.
However, has anyone watched a Chuck Jones' cartoon?
Known as Charles Jones during the earlier cartoon age with Merry Melodies and Loony Tunes, when Jones took over directing the Tom & Jerry cartoons during the 60's, he took a well-gifted hand at directing animated films based on Kipling's stories. Namely "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and even "The White Seal"(the latter I didn't know was within "The Jungle Book"). Chuck Jones really did these stories more justice than even Disney and he should have been given the right to redo the entire collection but, I digress... However, to rockdoc28,- and others- I found the comparison/contrast of original and adaptation helpful! So thanks! Also, to Jorge Frid and rockdoc28, the particualr edition I own I found when I attended Downtown Miami's annual Book Fair International.
It's called the Illustrated Junior Library by Grosset & Dunlap Publishers (c) 1950.
It is Kipling's original voice and style and it's simply magnificent.
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Title: Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, Barry Moser ISBN: 0688139574 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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Title: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Jerry Pinkney, Rudyard Kipling ISBN: 0688143202 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 26 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: Treasure Island (Signet Classic) by Robert Louis Stevenson, New American Library Signet ISBN: 0451527046 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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Title: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Ernest H. Shepard ISBN: 068971310X Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks Pub. Date: 01 March, 1989 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Kim (Penguin Classics) by Rudyard Kipling, Edward W. Said ISBN: 0140183523 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.00 |
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