book cover

Into the Jungle

by Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Kristjana S Williams

Interest age: 7 to 10
Reading age: 7+

Published by Macmillan Children’s Books, 2018

  • Adventure
  • Around the world
  • Chapter books
  • Classics
  • Short stories

About this book

Inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, this splendid collection of five short stories focuses on a variety of characters from the original tale.

Mowgli, a young boy who has been raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, begs his animal friends to tell him stories. As he picks his nose and chews his toenails, he is enthralled by accounts of courage, determination, friendship and sorrow.

He learns about events that shaped the lives of the creatures he knows and loves, from Mother Wolf and Bagheera the panther to the friendly bear Baloo and Kaa the hypnotic python. The final tale reveals the identity of a mysterious figure who stalks Mowgli as he skitters through the treetops.

This engaging tapestry of tales is enhanced by stylish illustrations, rich with colour and detail, which beautifully bring the jungle and its inhabitants to life. Mowgli is a likeable scamp who combines courage and recklessness with a strong sense of justice, and within the text are subtle hints as to his ancestry.

A stunning gift book, which can be enjoyed as a standalone collection, or as a companion volume to Kipling’s classic tale.

About the author

Katherine Rundell spent her childhood in Africa and Europe. After completing a degree in English and a doctorate on John Donne, she is now a full-time writer and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where she studies Renaissance literature and climbs old buildings at night.

Katherine is the bestselling author of The Wolf Wilder and Rooftoppers, which won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award and was shortlisted for many others. In 2017 Katherine won the Costa Children's Book Award for The Explorer. She has also been selected as one of the Aarhus39 – 39 of the leading children's writers from across Europe – and one of the Hay30 'writers and thinkers'.

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