The Jungle Book

"The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling is a treasury of stories for younger readers composed in the final years of the 1800s. It mainly focuses on a human child named Mowgli, who is brought up by wolves in the Indian jungle. The story follows Mowgli adapting to life in the forest while facing perils from animals and people alike. Major themes covered are fitting in, discovering who you are, and rules of the natural world. Readers learn about Mowgli's past as told by the wolf pack who take him in. The story takes place in the Seeonee hills where Father Wolf and Mother Wolf find a human baby who has found his way into their area, barely escaping the grasp of the smart tiger, Shere Khan. Their choice to raise Mowgli as their own results in important occurrences in their lives and the lives of the animals near them, finally ending with Mowgli becoming a member of the pack, where he has to understand the complexities of jungle rules and connections within the animal world while dealing with his identity as a human.