Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0333402529, Paperback)
Stories from "The Jungle Book" and from "The Second Jungle Book" that tell the story of Mowgli and his animal friends. According to Wikipedia: "Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) was an English author and poet. Born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai), he is best known for his works The Jungle Book (1894) and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1902), his novel, Kim (1901); his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), If— (1910); and his many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[2] The author Henry James said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:11:18 -0400)
(see all 3 descriptions)
*****
Practically perfect. I think that everyone should read these stories, here collected independent of the First & Second Jungle Books and including In The Rukh, a coda that tells us how Mowgli grew up. I first read these as a little girl, and if I am being completely honest, must confess that the Disney movie led me to them. These stories tower over and transcend the movie in every way, and stay quite firmly on my short list of very favorites year after year. (