Review: A few tales from the Indian Jungle
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 2, 2014
Most people probably recall seeing the Jungle Book animated movie as kids and that got me interested in the original text behind the movie. I usually read sci-fi, fantasy and mystery, but I like taking up the occasional classic. The Jungle Book is actually composed of 4 or 5 different stories. The main portion is about Mowgli, who we all remember from the cartoon classic, but this book also includes the tales of The White Seal of Lukannon, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Toomai of the Elephants.There are disjoint tales with the Indian jungle (as a setting) being the common factor amongst them. I only found Mowgli and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi's tales interesting, while the rest kind of filled in the gaps. I couldn't stop reading these two, but I could certainly have done with skipping the other stories. There's no real issue, but this is a kid's tale at heart. I certainly think more older kids should read this (only because Mowgli's tale deals with some death that could affect younger kids).All around, this is a nice call-back to the cartoon classic that we enjoyed. If you have the patience, read through all the stories to be whisked back to the (sometimes) magical setting of the Indian jungle. I would recommend this book to parents with older kids, older kids who like to read and those yearning for such a nostalgic tale.