A review by theverbalthing
The Jungle Book (Collins Classics), by Rudyard Kipling

5.0

Wow. I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. It was much darker than I expected — though I'm not sure why, given that the one thing I've learned about reading classics that Disney adapted is that Disney made everything outrageously fluffy — and it was also broken into several stories, rather than telling one overall arc. I liked that a lot. The anthropomorphized animals in Kipling's stories are as intricate and interesting as the only developed human character, Mowgli (who only appears in some of the stories, as it turns out). In fact, I found the animals more interesting than Mowgli. And this novel reminded me of why I used to love stories about animals so much as a kid (and still do, to be honest). The introduction mentions a second volume of stories that I have every intention of reading now. Kipling's writing is well-structured and quick-moving, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.