They might struggle to get into it, though-it only has four chapters, but the first one ends in the middle of the story, with Mowgli's banishment from the wolf pack, before back tracking to tell us about some of the adventures he had growing up. Basically, I think that kids would like this book as much as the movies just because it takes them more seriously. I wasn't surprised to find that Mowgli's adventures were a bit truer to life than Disney makes them out to be: he hunts, his rough-and-tumbles give him scars, he's more proactive about his future. That last point in particular surprised me in light of the most recent move: it seems as though, in this day and age, more emphasis would have been placed on how defeating Shere Khan was a collaborative effort rather than giving Mowgli the whole screen to himself for his climactic battle. Some surprising differences: Baloo is a wise keeper of jungle law Baghera, far from being a gruff teacher, runs the risk of spoiling Mowgli Shere Khan is lame in one foot, hardly the apex predator the films make him out to be Kaa is not an enemy, not entirely Mowgli spends a good portion of the story with other humans and he does not, ultimately, defeat Shere Khan on his own.
The stories, all of them, were a lot of fun to read. For one thing, Mowgli's story only takes up about the first four chapters, and then the rest of the book is made up of charming short stories like a long-time favorite of mine, "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." I can still remember the first time my dad read me that story-I'm surprised I didn't realize what book it was in. I won't answer and spoil for those who might want to read the book, but I will say that The Jungle Book was nothing like I expected. I was curious to know how it actually ended: did Mowgli stay in the jungle or did he return to humankind?
Yes, I was inspired by my viewing of the recent Disney live-action film-specifically, by how different it was in parts from the animated film.