Glad I listened to this one-I might not have finished it otherwise. I liked the poetry but the stories themselves seemed a bit stiff.

Summary: Tales of Mowgli, the boy raised by animals in the exotic jungles of India; Rikki-tikki-tavi, a courageous young mongoose who battles the sinister black cobra Nag; Toomai, the boy who works with elephants; and more will delight listeners both young and old.

Mostly very good, particularly "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," "Toomai of the Elephants," and the Mowgli stories. "The White Seal" and the final piece were a little harder to get through.

It was cool to finally read this.

I love the personification of the critters! It's so funny how much I went around singing "Bear Necessities" and "Want To Be Like You" while reading this - but the story is so much richer!
The Riki Tiki Tavi has such a soft spot from my childhood/the 1970's movie ... and the surprising a great retelling of the story!
I was surprised and enchanted by the Arctic stories.

Definitely colonialism/racism undertones. Good to notice/recognize.

Makes me wonder how Animal Farm would compliment this or be an interesting comparison? (but I will NOT be re-read Animal Farm!)

A very interesting read. The book includes lots of shorter stories- not just the Disney version of the boy in the jungle though that is the first story. There's a story of a boy raised by wolves and his attempt to return to human society- the story of a seal's search for a place away from men- the story of the mongoose who protects him humans from snakes- the story of a boy who witnesses the elephants dance- and the story of a variety of animals that all participate in war though in a different way.

What an interesting book! As we should all know from other stories, The Jungle Book is not like the Disney version. Each are good in their own way, it was a great opportunity to read the inspiration for the beloved cartoon.

I was also interested when reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. I have vague memories of watching a cartoon version of this story as well, so I enjoyed listening to it.

Kipling is a little tough to read, but I'm glad I sat myself down to read him one day. Having seen the Disney version of the Jungle Book when I was a little girl endeared me to the challenge somewhat. As an adult, I can appreciate his stories so much more. Disney, to be honest, like most other animated adaptations they create, really doesn't do the original works any justice. There is much more action and darkness in these stories than I could have possibly imagined. Though they still retain their foreign culture morals, there's just a lot more to them that can't possibly be explained to children. I recommend The Jungle Books, which includes the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi, to all my friends.

Unaware of the connection, I read this book right before reading Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Gaiman states in the acknowledgments that he wrote his book in part as an homage to Kipling's book.

This was my second time reading this with my children, but the first with this edition and I really enjoyed the illustrations of this book, they were beautiful, but didn't dwarf the text. The book gets better with the second retelling.

I only gave it a 3 because it's not really the type of writing I enjoy reading. But it was quite interesting and I was mostly drawn to Mowgli's stories. The rest seemed random to me, but still fun and interesting to read.

I guess tonight is the night of adding a bunch of childhood favorite classics to my Goodreads. When I should be asleep. Ah well, such is life.

I didn't like this one very much... but the new Disney live-action movie is cool. Though quite different. (That may be why I liked it.)