" "The Jungle Book" is a collection of stories, some of which do not take place in the jungle. Most of the stories captivated my imagination until the author interrupted the flow by injecting contradictions in the characters and the stories that involved violence. Bagheera chastises Baloo for beating Mowgli, only to do so himself when he felt embarrassed. Somehow Mowgli (like many abused persons) believes he deserves the unjust punishment and submits "to as severe a beating as you could wish to avoid". A similar contradiction in character occurs in "The White Seal." The white seal says he does not wish to fight the other seals, but decides he must have the most violent and bloody outbreak in history to force the other seals into submission to him. After reading all the stories, I was left with the impression that Rudyard Kipling struggled with the childhood abuse he suffered and his stories were therefore tainted by his confused beliefs about punishment. If you're a good storyteller, you can skip over or gloss over the most disturbing parts when reading to children. "
— Denise, 12/8/2013