The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling, 1894

Children's classics

A child raised among wolves enters an animal world governed by its own laws.

Read the book Contents

Length: 7 chapters
Reading time: About 3 hr 33 min
Words: 50,598

About the book

In the Seeonee hills, wolves and other animals speak, bargain and defend their places in a shared world. Mowgli's upbringing gives the jungle stories a child's point of entry, while the collection also moves beyond him to other creatures and settings.

Kipling makes animal habits into questions about teaching, loyalty and belonging. Songs and verses sit beside the tales, changing their rhythm and enlarging their imagined communities. The interest lies as much in who knows the rules, and who ignores them, as in the dangers of the chase.

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Children's classics

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. Rudyard Kipling died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK. Includes the original epigraph.