Nice two-volume set with some interesting illustrations. Only gets four stars because it's just the “best” of Kipling. If you are going to make a two-volume set, please just add everything!
Includes
Kim
Oh, my goodness, this was such a fun book. And not what I expected at all! The tale of an Irish street urchin, born in India and raised by a low-caste Indian woman since his parents died. Kimball has a way with theatrics—he can play many castes and characters with ease. This brings him eventually to the “Great Game” of spying and intrigue played in India by the British and their allies against their enemies. What I really enjoy about this book is that it is really a novel of impressions. Rarely does Kipling state anything outright. To me it doesn’t seem to have a typical plot arc and resolution but isn’t any less because of it. It seems to amble along like the Lama, sometimes actively searching, sometime passively searching for his river to lead him to Nirvana. The main characters—the Lama, Mahbub Ali, Hurree Babu, Kim—are skillfully rendered, and are distinct in their ethnicity, religion and culture. Kipling’s descriptions of colonial India transport you there, and you can see the busy cities and roads, and hear the sounds.
The Jungle Book
I have seen both the Disney versions, and of course this was much more interesting. I love the detail that Kipling put in with the songs of the different animals. I the chapter breaks, stemming from, I would assume the fact that it was originally serialized. Each chapter feels like a whole story. Bagheera is my favorite, but I really like Kaa, and I like how Baloo is actually old and wise, rather than just a lazy Bear. I like Mowgli’s essential otherness in the forest. No one can look him in the eye, and everyone thinks he is the cleverest. And then in the village he is the “other” as well. This, among other things, makes this story as much for adults as for children. One of my favorite parts is when Mowgli enlists the help of the elephants to have the jungle reclaim a village. Quite a haunting chapter. The Jungle Book is actually written in what I thought would be a little difficult language for my 6 & 7 year olds.
Just So Stories
I have not read these yet, as they seemed simple enough to read to my children. Update when we are finished.
Puck of Pook’s Hill
I never knew this story existed! I thought it was very enchanting, though it feels unfinished. It is about two children who live in England and are approached by Puck. “The last of the old ones in England”. He introduces them to different people from the area they live in throughout England’s history, such as a priest and two knights from around 1066, and then a Roman Legionnaire on Hadrian’s Wall. Then there is a story of a man who restores churches, and his involvement with some smugglers. After that there is a story of how all the fairies left England. But then it ends on a rather darker story of a Jewish man in England at the signing of the Magna Carta. It feels like it ends rather abruptly. ( )

I read The Jungle Book and Kim in this collection. In The Jungle Book, I liked the title story and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The seal story felt out of place because it was not set in a jungle. As for Kim, I felt as though it just kind of stopped rather than “ended”, and I was uncomfortable with how the residents of India were portrayed in terms of their accents being rendered in dialogue and in terms of the asides the third-person omniscient narrator referred to "Asiatics". I didn't end up reading any of the poems. ( )