The Jungle Book

First published in 1894, “The Jungle Book” is a collection of stories by the English authorRudyard Kiplingthat he wrote while he lived in India. “The Jungle Book”has remained popular, partly throughits many adaptations for film and other media.

Most of the characters are animals such asShere Khanthe tiger andBaloothe bear, though a principal character is the boy or “man-cub”Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. The stories are set in a forest inIndia; one place mentioned repeatedly is “Seonee” (Seoni), in thecentralstate ofMadhya Pradesh.
The stories tell mostly of Mowgli and learns self-sufficiency and wisdom from the jungle animals. The book describes the social life of the wolf pack and, more fancifully, the justice and natural order of life in the jungle.