Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Salem Main Library | J Kipling, R. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library | YA FIC KIP | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Kipling, R. 2007 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Children will delight in this unabridged version of Rudyard Kipling's classics, Jungle Books One and Two ! Not only does this attractive volume feature the beloved tales of Mowgli, the "man cub" raised by wolves, and Rikki Tikki Tavi, but also the lesser-known but wonderful stories of Toomai, the boy who gets to see elephants dance; Quiquern, who saves his Eskimo people from starvation; and Kotick, the white seal.
Author Notes
Kipling, who as a novelist dramatized the ambivalence of the British colonial experience, was born of English parents in Bombay and as a child knew Hindustani better than English. He spent an unhappy period of exile from his parents (and the Indian heat) with a harsh aunt in England, followed by the public schooling that inspired his "Stalky" stories. He returned to India at 18 to work on the staff of the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette and rapidly became a prolific writer. His mildly satirical work won him a reputation in England, and he returned there in 1889. Shortly after, his first novel, The Light That Failed (1890) was published, but it was not altogether successful.
In the early 1890s, Kipling met and married Caroline Balestier and moved with her to her family's estate in Brattleboro, Vermont. While there he wrote Many Inventions (1893), The Jungle Book (1894-95), and Captains Courageous (1897). He became dissatisfied with life in America, however, and moved back to England, returning to America only when his daughter died of pneumonia. Kipling never again returned to the United States, despite his great popularity there.
Short stories form the greater portion of Kipling's work and are of several distinct types. Some of his best are stories of the supernatural, the eerie and unearthly, such as "The Phantom Rickshaw," "The Brushwood Boy," and "They." His tales of gruesome horror include "The Mark of the Beast" and "The Return of Imray." "William the Conqueror" and "The Head of the District" are among his political tales of English rule in India. The "Soldiers Three" group deals with Kipling's three musketeers: an Irishman, a Cockney, and a Yorkshireman. The Anglo-Indian Tales, of social life in Simla, make up the larger part of his first four books.
Kipling wrote equally well for children and adults. His best-known children's books are Just So Stories (1902), The Jungle Books (1894-95), and Kim (1901). His short stories, although their understanding of the Indian is often moving, became minor hymns to the glory of Queen Victoria's empire and the civil servants and soldiers who staffed her outposts. Kim, an Irish boy in India who becomes the companion of a Tibetan lama, at length joins the British Secret Service, without, says Wilson, any sense of the betrayal of his friend this actually meant. Nevertheless, Kipling has left a vivid panorama of the India of his day.
In 1907, Kipling became England's first Nobel Prize winner in literature and the only nineteenth-century English poet to win the Prize. He won not only on the basis of his short stories, which more closely mirror the ambiguities of the declining Edwardian world than has commonly been recognized, but also on the basis of his tremendous ability as a popular poet. His reputation was first made with Barrack Room Ballads (1892), and in "Recessional" he captured a side of Queen Victoria's final jubilee that no one else dared to address.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This retelling opens with Mowgli showcasing his jungle skills as taught to him by Baloo and Bagheera. Vibrant digital vignettes display Mowgli not only surviving but thriving in a wild setting. Moving on to Mowgli's backstory, readers are introduced to villain Shere Khan. Through the tiger's dialogue, readers learn that Mowgli was abandoned in the forest by his parents, and can safely assume that Shere Khan means to harm him-though it is merely evidenced by the way the tiger roars his claims to the child and not explicitly stated in text. Fortunately, Mother and Father Wolf leap to Mowgli's defense and offer him love and protection as adoptive parents. As a young boy, Mowgli is safe and happy in his jungle home, but as he grows, the animals who vowed to protect him age and younger animals rise up to take leadership of the pack. The younger animals are vulnerable to Shere Khan's bad intentions, which puts Mowgli in a position where he must prove himself at a special pack meeting. This retelling is a great beginner version for young listeners as the lush beauty and exciting activities one can enjoy only in the wild are highlighted over the more mature elements of the story, such as abandonment and Shere Khan's plans to kill the child. The dynamic digital cartoon artwork supports this by depicting the jungle animals with large, expressive eyes and soft lines that take the bite out of fearsome features like claws and sharp teeth. VERDICT A solid addition to most library collections.-Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Younger) Illustrated by Roberta Smith. Huey, Julian's younger brother from The Stories Julian Tells (Knopf) and its sequels, is the central character in Cameron's newest book. With her usual rich language, strong sense of childhood angst, and gentle humor, Cameron tells of Huey's growing independence and confidence. In one chapter he invents banana pancakes; in another, he fools his brother into thinking that a zebra has been in their yard. Smith's black-and-white pencil illustrations are less successful than Ann Strugnell's drawings in the earlier books. m.v.k. Max Grover, Author-Illustrator Amazing and Incredible Counting Stories!: A Number of Tall Tales In a book that is impossible to categorize, Max Grover has combined elements of counting books, fantasy, tall tales, and tabloid journalism. At the top of each page, an often intriguing headline uses a number, while the text below the picture reads like an enticing caption. For the number four, the headline reads, "4 Jelly Faucets Prove Big Time-Saver for Kids," while the caption reads, "A girl shows how quickly she can make sandwiches using this new device. Now she has more time to spend with her pet alligator." The fanciful scenes are depicted with spirited, nearly childlike acrylic paintings, flat, highly-saturated colors, and a rhythmic sense of design, particularly in the pages showing higher numbers. lolly robinson MaryÿAnn Hoberman The Cozy Book (Picture Book) Illustrated by Betty Fraser. A child details all the things that are cozy: foods, games, smells, people, and sounds like "Traffic rumble / Airplane roar / Freight train toot / Grandpa snore." In this reissue of the 1982 edition, the new, bright, color-drenched illustrations give the book a more contemporary look. Every page is filled with myriad details and dozens of children and ends with the child who began the poem, tucked into bed for a cozy night. Sure to be a favorite. h.b.z. Rachel Isadora, Author-Illustrator Lili on Stage (Picture Book) Lili has a small part in the Nutcracker ballet, and we share with her the behind-the-scenes preparations, the anxious wait, the thrill of performance and applause, and her dreams for the future. The watercolor illustrations are like confections and will be a delightful reminder for children who have seen the ballet performed. h.b.z. Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book (Intermediate) Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. All of Kipling's celebrated Mowgli stories, as well as the story of Rikki-tikki-tavi, are gathered together in one volume. Mowgli, the feral child who lives in India with the jungle animals as infant, equal, and finally leader, is one of the great heroes of children's fiction. The handsome illustrations in dappled watercolors show to admiration the lush jungle growth, the watchful animals, and Mowgli himself. A glorious pairing of text and illustration. a.a.f. Ted Lewin, Author-Illustrator Sacred River (Picture Book) A descriptive, fluid, and straightforward text combines with richly detailed full-color illustrations to describe a pilgrimage to the Ganges River in the Indian city of Benares. Architecture and people are equally well portrayed to create a memorable setting. "For Hindus, all rivers are places of worship and are sacred. The Ganges is the most sacred of all. . . . Its waters are said to have the power of salvation." Though brief, this highly visual glimpse of one aspect of life in India, drawn from Lewin's own travels, will likely lead readers to a more thorough exploration of the country and its culture. m.b.s. Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears (Younger) Illustrated by Arthur Howard. In his fourth easy reader, the childlike Mr. Putter and his elderly cat Tabby cannot make it up the ladder to pick this year's pears because Mr. Putter has "cranky knees." So he fashions a slingshot from a stick, an old glove, and a pair of poodleprint underpants. His attempts to knock down the pears using fallen apples fail but result in a wealth of apple turnovers, cider, and apple jelly. m.v.k. James Stevenson, Author-Illustrator I Had a Lot of Wishes (Picture Book) Stevenson's wistful yet philosophical glance backward at his childhood brings a flood of memories of wishes granted and not granted, practical and unreasonable. He wishes his brother would stop trying to scare him, and he wishes he were a famous boy detective. He wishes he could go to camp, but when he arrives, he finds he doesn't like it. But he has a good time, after all. A perceptive look at a common childhood occupation, graced with Stevenson's gentle, evocative watercolors. a.a.f. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A picture-book adaptation of "Mowgli's Brothers," the first tale in Kipling's The Jungle Book, with a little bit of "Kaa's Hunting" thrown in. Driscoll gets the basic details of the stories down: Mowgli is adopted into the wolf pack under the protection of Bagheera and Baloo; Mowgli learns the ways of the jungle; Mowgli runs off and gets in trouble with the monkeys; Mowgli notices his difference from the animals in his family; Mowgli steals fire from the nearby village and uses it to defeat Shere Khan; Mowgli leaves the jungle to go live with men. And, unfortunately, the entire narrative is just about as bloodless as that summary. Blanco's illustrations are ever-so-slightly retro in palette and line, his animals slinky and sinuous, with human-shaped eyes. Though not conspicuously like the animated Disney versions of the characters, they have an affinity, particularly in the depiction of tousle-headed Mowgli and bug-eyed Kaa. (Readers familiar with the 1967 Disney film will be puzzled to find the latter character Mowgli's friend and ally rather than a threat.) His junglescapes are distinctly un-jungly. Taken as a whole, the illustrations cannot compensate for the lackluster text. It has none of Kipling's verbal artistry nor even enough of its own to make the events it recounts exciting or moving. Adults who want to move beyond the Disney versions are advised to skip this book and stick to a read-aloud of Kipling's original, sumptuous prose. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-7. In 18 rich watercolor paintings, Pinkney captures the sheer drama of the eight Mowgli stories and of the well-loved "Rikki-tikki-tavi." A handsome volume for collections of classic tales. --Sally Estes