Claim: Baloo's creator is Rudyard Kipling.

Joseph Rudyard Kipling -LRB- -LSB- ` rʌdjərd_ˈkɪplɪŋ -RSB- -LRB- rhotic -RRB- ; 30 December 1865 -- 18 January 1936 -RRB- was an English journalist , short-story writer , poet , and novelist .   Kipling 's works of fiction include The Jungle Book -LRB- 1894 -RRB- , Kim '' -LRB- 1901 -RRB- , and many short stories , including `` The Man Who Would Be King '' -LRB- 1888 -RRB- . His poems include `` Mandalay '' -LRB- 1890 -RRB- , `` Gunga Din '' -LRB- 1890 -RRB- , `` The Gods of the Copybook Headings '' -LRB- 1919 -RRB- , `` The White Man 's Burden '' -LRB- 1899 -RRB- , and `` If -- '' -LRB- 1910 -RRB- . He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story ; his children 's books are classics of children 's literature , and one critic described his work as exhibiting `` a versatile and luminous narrative gift '' .   Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom , in both prose and verse , in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Henry James said : `` Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius , as distinct from fine intelligence , that I have ever known . '' In 1907 , at the age of 42 , he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature , making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date . He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood , both of which he declined .   Kipling 's subsequent reputation has changed according to the political and social climate of the age and the resulting contrasting views about him continued for much of the 20th century . George Orwell called him a `` prophet of British imperialism '' .  Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote : '' -LSB- Kipling -RSB- is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled . But as the age of the European empires recedes , he is recognised as an incomparable , if controversial , interpreter of how empire was experienced . That , and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts , make him a force to be reckoned with . ''