Name of the book: The Jungle Book

Author: Rudyard Kipling

Published by: Macmillan Publishers

Publication year: 1894

Genre: Children’s literature

The book has been written by an English author, Rudyard Kipling. Joseph Rudyard Kipling was
an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He wrote tales and poems of British soldiers in
India and stories for children. His most popular books include The Jungle Book, The Second
Jungle Book, Just so stories, Kim, The man who would be king, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, In black and
white, Plain tales from the hills and many more.

The Jungle Book is a famous children's fantasy story and has already been made into drama,
films, television show and others. It includes a short stories like Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, The white
seal, Toomai of the Elephants and A jungle boy Mowgli. Well these stories Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,
Toomai of the Elephants and The white seal are not directly connected to the character of
Mowgli and his adventures but they offer a valuable lessons.

Well I like Mowgli’s story. It has following characters:

Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, Shere Khan, Akela, Hathi, Raksha, Ikki, Father Wolf, Tabaqui.

It is about a life of a man's cub named Mowgli. From the first day his parents left him in the
middle of the jungle until he had grown up and became a young man.

The lives of Father & Mother Wolf changed rapidly when one day, Father Wolf found a naked
brown baby who just could walk. The family decided to keep him even though Shere Khan had
claimed that the baby was his .The Family of Wolf had a deep hatred towards Shere Khan since
they thought that he has broken the Law of the Jungle which forbids every beast to eat Man.

Few days after that, the Wolf brought Mowgli to the Wolves Council to ask their leader's
permission to raise Mowgli. Most of the Wolves didn't agree with him because they thought that
he didn’t belong to their group except for the Old Baloo and Bagheera, the Black Panther. The
Council seem to take their words because they were very much respected by them.

Years after that Mowgli had grown up and became a man. His confrontation with Shere Khan
did not ended until one day the Wolves Council held a meeting to find a replacement for their old
leader, Akela. Shere Khan wished that he can be their leader whereas Mowgli felt the needs to
obtain his pride. To solve this problem, they were asked to fight and the winner will be the
leader. Mowgli had won the fight but he did not kill Shere Khan although he has the opportunity
to do it. At the end of the story, Mowgli decided to leave the jungle and went back to the place
where he belongs.

I think Baloo is not a lazy idiot, Kaa is not a bad guy, Shere Khan is killed rather than run off,
and the wolves are not always the noble good guys.

The Jungle Book is interesting and important one because it address the prime relationships in
one’s life – family, coworkers, bosses – and everyone’s relationship with Nature. For instance, if
a boy is raised by wolves, then wolves are his family until the last one dies. The themes of The
Jungle Book revolve around noble qualities such as loyalty, honor, courage, tradition, integrity,
and persistence. These are good to discuss and ponder in any century, making the stories
timeless. Because of its moral tones, this book is really motivational I think that this story is an
interesting story and full of moral values. It is very suitable for kids who are interested in fantasy
stories.