In 1819, Millworker William Collins from Glasgow, Scotland, set up a company for printing and publishing pamphlets, sermons, hymn books and prayer books.

Ironically, three decades later, a social irritant in Germany usurped a reverse of Kipling's symbol, the Swastica, as an insignia for a political party devoted to persecution. Since Kipling was a great admirer of Theodor Herzl who sought self-determination for the Jewish people, it is difficult not to view this otherwise out-of-place message as a metaphor in support of a fellow journalist and friend. Bracketed by the jungle stories is a tale out of the Bering Sea: Kotick, a fur seal, searches for a home for his kind where they will not be persecuted by humans. Other much-loved stories include the heroic mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and the elephant-handler, Toomai. Speaking of cubs, there is Mowgli, the feral child, raised by wolves. Also contains Baloo's Maxims, Mowgli's Song, other song-verses, and the law of the Jungle, interspersed, which lays down rules for the safety of all, as taught to all cubs, by Baloo the sleepy brown bear. The Jungle stories are here compiled from magazine articles written while the author was living in Vermont (!). Kipling was born in India, was removed to England when ten, to return for work as an adult for 6 years. I enjoyed the adventures of Mowgli and his friends and eventually discovered more Kipling as I grew older.

These stories are a great introduction for children (girls and boys) to the work of a true master storyteller. Truly Rikki Tikki Tavi is one of the great heroes in all of literature. Also appearing in this collection is the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi-all about an intrepid young mongoose and his life or death battle to protect an Indian villa from a couple of particularly unpleasant cobras. Kipling strikes a nice balance between anthropomorphizing the animals and understanding Mowgli's natural superiority. This leads to an exciting denouement and with the several other Mowgli stories-there are some prequels-impressed this young reader. Thus Mowgli is raised according to Jungle Law, but has engendered the enmity of Shere Khan who is plotting his revenge and ingratiating himself with the younger wolves. Mowgli's new 'parents' and Bagheera and Baloo (the brown bear) sponsor him for membership in the Wolf Pack and, much to Shere Khan's chagrin, he is admitted. Bagheera (the black panther) places him with a wolf family that has a newborn litter.

Mowgli is an Indian infant who is lost in the jungle after Shere Khan (the tiger) kills his family. Of them my favorites were the Mowgli tales (developed by Disney for the cinema). These are among the first books that I remember reading as a young boy.

The jungle books by rudyard kipling