Mowgli, lost in the deep jungle as a child, is adopted into a family of wolves. Hunted by Shere Khan, the Bengal tiger, Mowgli is allowed to run with the wolf pack under the protection of Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the brown bear who teaches wolf cubs the Laws of the Jungle. Through his many adventures, Mowgli evolves from a vengeful member of the pack to a just and compassionate human being who at last returns to join—perhaps to lead—his own kind. Like Alice in Wonderland and Aesop’s Fables, The Jungle Books is a work capable of capturing our imagination at any age. W. Somerset Maugham calls Kipling “our greatest short story writer,” and in The Jungle Books, he says, Kipling’s “great and varied gifts find their most brilliant expression.” With a New Introduction by Alberto Manguel and an Afterword by Alev Lytle Croutier