The Jungle Book: A Story about Loyalty

Abstract

I include this book in the collection not because I think The Jungle Book should be viewed as a fable but because this volume is part of a series that is labeled Famous Fables. This twenty-page children's picture book extends onto its back endpaper with tips for parents, including strategies, discussion questions, and activities that grow out of the story. The Jungle Book, which I have not read before, is perhaps the most complex book in this series. As Wikipedia says, The best-known of them [the stories in 'The Jungle Book'] are the three stories revolving around the adventures of an abandoned 'man cub' Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. I was surprised first to come across Akela, a name which I remember from my Cub Scout days. I was next surprised to learn that Robert Baden-Powell asked Kiplilng's permission to take over material from Kipling's jungle world and apply it to scouting. For me, this book shifts stories too often within its narrow confines. It seems clear to me, however, that our hearts are meant to be with Mowgli.