Grade 5 Up?These two classics receive fresh and worthy treatment in this new series. Children raised on computer games and frenetic television images may find the writings of Kipling and London to be old-fashioned and unrelated to the worlds they know best. That's why these books are a welcome addition to most collections. Kipling's stories of Mowgli, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and Toomai of the elephants and London's story of the heroic dog Buck are superbly packaged. The original, unabridged texts are presented along with period maps and photographs, historical etchings and engravings, and newly created full-color illustrations that supply invaluable detail and background. Generous and colorfully presented details about the places, times, people, events, and natural life provide vital context. In The Jungle Book, readers learn about the English colonization of India, the domestication of elephants, purported cases of "wild children" raised by wolves, India's thick-lipped bears, panthers, wolves, mongooses, Bengal tigers, and myriad other details that contribute to fuller and more enjoyable appreciation of Mowgli's adventures in the lush jungle landscape of 19th-century India. Similarly, visual and print information about the Klondike, the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1896, sled dogs, wolves, and Jack London enrich the reading experience of young people first encountering The Call of the Wild. Both books are handsome to look at, inviting to read, and a boon to anyone charged with introducing today's youth to classic works.?Jerry D. Flack, University of Colorado
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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