The Jungle Books [Paperback]

Rudyard Kipling’s beloved collection of short stories about a boy raised by wolves who learns the Laws of the Jungle.

Mowgli, lost in the deep jungle as a child, is adopted into a family of wolves. Hunted by Shere Khan, the Bengal tiger, Mowgli is allowed to run with the wolf pack under the protection of Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the brown bear who teaches wolf cubs the Laws of the Jungle. Through his many adventures, Mowgli evolves from a man-cub to a just and compassionate human being who at last returns to join—perhaps to lead—his own kind.

W. Somerset Maugham calls Kipling “our greatest short story writer,” and in The Jungle Books, he says, Kipling’s “great and varied gifts find their most brilliant expression.” His most famous work effortlessly captures the imagination and has inspired beloved film adaptations, including Disney'sThe Jungle Book, as well as readers the world over. 

With an Introduction by Alberto Manguel
and an Afterword by Alev Lytle Croutier“Kipling knew something of the things which are underneath, and of the things which are beyond the frontier.”—T. S. EliotRudyard Kipling(1865–1936) was born in Bombay, the son of an Anglo-Indian professor of architectural sculpture. There he was brought up in the care of “ayahs,” or native nurses, who taught him Hindustani and the native lore that always haunted his imagination and can be seen reflected inThe Jungle Books. At the age of six, he was sent to England. At twelve, he was sent to a school at Westward Ho!, the scene ofStalky & Co. In 1883, he returned to India and embarked on a career in journalism, writing the news stories as well as the tales and ballads that began to make his reputation. After seven years, he went back to England, the literary star of the hour. He married an American and stayed in Vermont off and on l“7