By Katherine Rundell (author) , Kristjana S Williams (illustrator)
"Revisiting and reimagining the world of The Jungle Book and what happened next to all the characters. These engaging stories make an interesting comparison to the originals"
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Award-winner Katherine Rundell has already taken readers on thrilling journeys over rooftops, across the Russian steppes and of course deep into the forest. She understands absolutely children's longing for wild adventure and no-one is better suited to write new stories for Kipling's Jungle Book characters.
This very handsome book, which features beautiful colour illustrations by Kristjana S Williams, tells five different stories, and with each perfectly-imagined episode adds to what we love about Kipling's unforgettable characters, including Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan and Kaa. It opens too with a story about one of the most interesting characters, Mowgli's fierce wolf-mother Raksha, who has long deserved more time in the spotlight.
These are stories of bravery and cunning, full of excitement and danger, but most of all they are stories of loyalty and community, and by the time they reach the end, readers will be daydreaming themselves into the jungle family. Mowgli links all the stories, and has his own of course, and is exactly the same impetuous, selfish, boasting but warm-hearted, generous boy drawn so vividly by Kipling.
In fact the book does exactly what sequels should but seldom manage - it tells us new stories that grow out of the originals, and enhance and enrich them.
Into the Jungle is a modern classic in the making, as Katherine Rundell creates charming and compelling origin stories for all Kipling's best-loved characters, from Baloo and Shere Khan to Kaa and Bagheera. As Mowgli travels through the Indian jungle, this brilliantly visual tale, which weaves each short story together into a wider whole, will make readers both laugh and cry.
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Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book , first published by Macmillan in 1894, is one of the most enduring books of children's literature, delighting generations of children. Katherine Rundell has taken this as the basis of her new and enchanting tale, sharing the early years of favourite characters and informing the creatures they become in Kipling's classic, with stories about family and friendship, loyalty and jungle law, and a final battle which will decide the future of the forest.
A gorgeously produced paperback with a foiled cover and colour illustrations throughout by creative genius Kristjana S Williams, this is truly a book for all the family to treasure and share.
Following her Amazon-inspired Costa win Rundell transports us to the Indian jungle for a collection of origin stories for Kipling's best-loved Jungle Book characters, told with charm, with and personality. For children of seven plus, with lush, wild illustrations by Williams. These are unforgettable tales of friendship, bravery and jungle lore, and Rundell's writing is an intoxicating mix of precision and wildness... and the lush drama and colour of [Williams'] work makes this an exceptional gift book. -- Fiona Noble Bookseller Children's Buyer Guide, Highlights of the Season
Katherine Rundell is a multi-million-bestselling author whose novels for children have won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Costa Children’s Book Award, among many others. Impossible Creatures was Waterstones Book of the Year 2023, and in 2024 Katherine was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year and Impossible Creatures won the Children’s Fiction Book of the Year. She is a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College and a Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where she works on Renaissance literature. Her books for adults include Super-Infinite , winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize. Very occasionally she goes climbing across the rooftops of Oxford, late at night.
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The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Into the Jungle and determined it is suitable for children aged 7-10 years old
Into the Jungle features in the following genres: Adventure Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Featured Books for 7+ readers, Recommendations, Short Stories, Featured Books for 9+ readers, Animal Stories
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Into the Jungle was written by Katherine Rundell and published by Macmillan Children's Books an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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