The Jungle Book (Everyman's Library)

"'Hukm hai (It is an order)"

Are the two JUNGLE BOOKS (1895-96) by Rudyard Kipling for children or for adults? *** I say: for both. My six grandsons and two granddaughters are enthralled when I read to them of Bagheera the panther, Rikki-Tikki-Ravi the mongoose or Mowgli the man-cub raised by Father and Mother Wolf. And I myself have returned to Kipling after 50 years with renewed enthusiasm for his imagination, wisdom and deft ways to spin great yarns. *** Surprisingly the jungles of THE JUNGLE BOOKS are not just in Central India. They are wild places of Antarctica, Arctica and the great oceans. Kipling's jungles are "what if?" magical lands. They are border spaces where humans and animals are co-exist in varying degrees of noticing one other.What if animals were to communicate among themselves as well as we humans do? What if animals tamed by or captured by humans learned human languages and grasped human motivations? In "Servants of the Queen" we meet and hear the talk of Indian Army work beasts and fighting beasts assembled in the spring of 1885 to impress Abdur Rahman, visiting Amir of Afghanistan, an event personally witnessed and reported by young journalist Kipling. The tale begins: "It had been raining heavily for one whole month -- raining on a camp of thirty thousand men and thousands of camels, elephants, horses, bullocks, and mules all gathered together at a place called Rawal Pindi, to be reviewed by the VIceroy of India." *** Kipling, fortunately for us readers, "knew enough of beast-language -- not wild-beast language, of course, from the natives to know what he (a panicked camel frightened by a bad dream) was saying." We learn how each class of army animal sized up things, how well they had been trained in their various specialties (e.g., mules to haul mountain howitzers up the sides of mountains, cavalry horses to hold formations for their riders, etc.) and what they absorbed from the men their masters. A young mule asked the other beasts why they had to fight at all. "'Because we're told to,'" said the troop-horse with a snort of contempt." "'Orders,'" said an older mule. "'Hukm hai (It is an order),' said the camel with a gurgle." And the elephant and the bullock agreed. But who gives the orders? The man who walks at your head or who rides you! But who gives them orders, asked the young mule? The others agreed that the youngster wanted to know far too much. *** And so it goes in or near world-wide jungles where men and intelligent beasts live not too far apart or, as in the Indian Army, live in symbiosis. Great yarns. Open THE JUNGLE BOOKS at random and judge for yourself! -OOO-

7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Bad

The edditing was terrible.

6 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing

This copy was atrocious in editing, spelling, format and anything else I can think of! It appeared to me that it had been copied by someone who didn' t know the English language. Although the price was cheap, it was too much for this copy. There were many cases of where a capital U was used in stead of double ll, symbols in stead of letters and very few pages without errors and many pages with more than one. Wasted money!

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

The Jungle Book a True Classic

The story the Jungle Book is a true timeless classic. The story of Mogli a young orphan who is trying to surrvive in the jungle after being orphaned has a wide variety of emotiones. Mogli a young child is ophaned after his parents are killed by a tiger, only he manages to survive. Mogli is befriended by Baheer a wise old panter and Baloo a lazy bear. Between the the two animals they try to teach Mojli of the dangers of the forest and try to help him get to the nearest man villag. On their Odessey the three encounter many dangers. A group of luticris orangatans who want Mogli to protect them from danger, Kaa a boa constricter who wants to make Mojli lunch, and Shere Khan who wants to kill Mojli before Mojli seakes revenge for the slaughter of his parents. The Intense climax comes in a final show down between Shere Khan and Baheer, the fight leaves you on the edge of your seat and you wonder Will Mogli make out of the jungle alive, or parish such as his parents. The Jungle Book supports all the content that it takes to make a classic, and I would highly suggest, Rutyard Kippling made a true master piece.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

:')

Good

4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Awesomee

No text was provided for this review.

a decent scan

not as good as a purchased copy, but good for a free scan

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Bloody good.

Nicely formatted tales with the wit and historical perspective associated in Kipling.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

:p

People dont like the book cause theyve seen the disney movie first and expect the book to be the same. If one read the book before seeing the movie they might like the book more than the movie!

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Money well spent

This is the best book ever :)

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Kipling's Masterful Storytelling, History, and Modern Mythology Come Together

Legends are made from legends. Rudyard Kipling dug deep into the tales of the jungle from his years living in India, and drew from them the kinds of stories that live forever.

"The Jungle Book" is more than how Mowgli, the man cub, learns to live and survive amongst enemies like Shere Khan. The intense mongoose vs cobra "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," also well-known, is here, as are several lesser-known and unrelated adventures.

Richly written, with details and contexts unfamiliar to Western readers, "The Jungle Book" lifts imagination and language beautifully. Poetic, and written in a literary style, it shines above most modern prose.

This is the stuff of afternoon stories read to older boys and girls. Young teens will while away rainy evenings, unwilling to part until finished. Sometimes scary and always exciting, Kipling also uses the book to teach lessons much greater than a jungle in India.

When chapters were first read to me many years ago, I listened gawk-eyed, listening intently for as long as my mother would read. I read it with different eyes now, but no less a young boy as I worry how Baloo will handle the Bandar-Log monkeys.

It isn't perfect. A few scientific details are fudged (wolf pack breeding structure, for example), but nothing that matters in the big picture. Kipling will have you in the palm of his hand, even though it was first published over 100 years ago.

May "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling be as amazing to you as it has been to me.

--Brockeim

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The shine never tarnishes

I read this book as a child and now I have introduced my child to it. It seems that everyone who reads this book simply loves it and the original movie from 1942 is a great representation of this as well.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The characters of Mowilgi friends leave you on the edge of your seat

When I read this book for my fifth grade summer reading, I enjoyed the story of Mowilgi because the battle that came out with a happy ending. Shere Kan and he learned how to surrvive in the jungle. Shere Kan was evil and he teased Mowilgi that no matter what,he would eat him.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

DARN good book

This is a book that you can read again and again. My favorite is the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great

THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN THE MOVIE! Exept for the hobbit, of course. TITLE YOUR REVIEW "HOBBIT LOVER" IF YOU LOVED THE HOBBIT.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book was a great book to read. I thought that it would be a children's book, but I found that it could also be a great book for anyone to read! I got sucked into right from chapter one. Mowgli, the main character, was found and raised by wolves. He then was taught the Laws of the Jungle by Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the bear. All through the book they run into some sort of trouble, but always manage to get out. Like when the Bandar-Log, the apes, take him for hostage and take him clear across the jungle to the Cold Lairs which an intense battle takes place. I would recommend this book to not only younger people, but to everyone. It is action-packed and it totally stole my attention and grabbed my heart at the end when Mowgli's enemy, Shere Kan, was taken over by him. This book has some flaws like the animals from the jungle don't really match where it takes place. I would give it four stars. I still think it is a good book, and I would recommend everyone that reads this review to read this book!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Jungle Book

The Disney movie is better. Oh and CREEPY COVER!!!!! AH!!!!

Logan reshert

I never did that befor

THE PONY EXPRESS THE PONY EXPRESS NOT THE BRITTISH ARE COMIN

oh my wa its 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9