1. From ancient times, authors have used animals to reflect human traits.

Discuss how Kipling uses animals in The Jungle Book to represent particular types of people and their personalities.

2. Discuss the values found in Kipling's animal world. How are these superior to many of the common values of the human world?

3. Kipling based The Jungle Book on his firsthand observations of India. Research the history and culture of colonial India and show how Kipling has incorporated details of village life and real-life events into his stories.

4. Compare the character of Mowgli in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book with Harvey Cheyne in Kipling's Captains Courageous, a novel about a young male coming of age and learning about himself and the world.

5. Read Aesop's Fables and decide whether Kipling used these tales as a source of ideas. What similarities...