The Jungle Book is a collection of stories that relate the experiences of a human child, Mowgli, who is adopted and raised by wolves in an Indian jungle.

As he grows up, he learns the ways of the jungle and the different personalities of its animals. He is accepted as a "wolf" by the other animals, but when he is finally exposed to humans, he begins to question his own identity. He resists the realization that he is human because he is dismayed by the greed and destructiveness of those who invade the jungle.

He can accept stupidity or savagery, as characterized by certain members of the animal world, because each animal in its own way is true to its nature. But the greed of humans is beyond his understanding. Through a series of adventures in which he must defeat his sworn enemy, the tiger, and overcome many obstacles, he eventually comes to accept his humanness.

The Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book are followed by a series of animal fables that pursue similar themes. These stories feature such familiar characters as the mongoose Riki-Tikki-Tavi. Some editions of Kipling's work place all the stories of Mowgli in one volume and all of the animal stories in a second volume.