all things fiction

Books

Day 17: The Jungle Book 

A series of fable-ish stories mostly populated by animal characters, including a bunch that don’t star Mowgli. 

The Mowgli stories are the best known for good reason. The Rikki-Tikki-Tavi story is the second strongest. The rest are good but not noteworthy. 

My 6yo and I both had a pretty tepid reaction to it. If you’re out of content to read with your kids, go for it. But here are some alternatives I’d recommend more strongly:

Better orphan story: The Graveyard Book

Better animal story: Watership Down

Better adventure: Treasure Island 

Better Kipling: Captains Courageous 

Four stars carried on Mowgli’s little man cub back