The Jungle Book

By Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories and poems that all feature talking animals. The first three stories are about the adventures of Mowgli the man-cub. He is a boy that was raised by wolves. The Disney movie is based on these stories, but is a little bit different. The first three stories that make up the Jungle Book are:

• Mowgli's Brothers
• Kaa's Hunting
• Tiger! Tiger!

I really enjoyed these three stories and the talking animals. My favorite part was in "Tiger Tiger!" but I can't tell you what happens because it gives away the ending! You will have to read it to find out.

I am going to rate these three stories together.

Rating: 4 out of 5 worms


The White Seal
"The White Seal" is about a baby seal named Kotick that is born white instead of gray. He goes on an adventure to try and find a safe place where no men will come to hunt for seals.

I liked this story, but it was a little boring.

Rating: 3 out of 5 worms.


Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
This story was sooooooooo good! It was my favorite story in the whole book. "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is about a boy finding an almost dead mongoose named Rikki-Tikki. The boy nurses Rikki-Tikki back to health, and convinces his mom and dad to let him keep him. Rikki-Tikki fights dangerous creatures (duh, duh, duhn...) to save the family.

If you don't want to read all of the jungle book stories, this story also comes as a separate book.

Rating: 5 out of 5 worms


Toomai of the Elephants
This story is about a 10-year old boy named Little Toomai. His dad is in charge of driving India's greatest elephant, but one day the elephant takes off with Little Toomai on his back.

This was a bit of a humdrum read (that means boring).

Rating: 3 out of 5 worms


Servants of the Queen
In a crowded camp full of people and their animals, a bunch of talking animals discuss their different war fighting strategies. For example, the horse talks about his owner riding around on his back, shooting guns and slashing people with knives. The bullock, on the other hand, just relaxes and eats grass while waiting for his owner to come back and take him home.

It was pretty interesting to hear about the different ways the animals fight, but I still thought this story was a little boring.

Rating: 3 out of 5 worms

Pages: 280
Interest Level: Grades 9 - 12
Reading Level: 5.9