This is a credible and creditable exposition of the Kiplings' possible first year of living in America together, and of the evolution of The Jungle Book stories -what is more, it will help to claw back the authorship of those works from the Disney Corporation

Consisting of a fictionalized back story of Rudyard Kipling's time in Vermont - during which he was writing the Jungle Book - the story equally involves the young, poor neighbor boy who identifies with Mowgli from Kipling's tale.

Well written with the interweaving of several different characters and their "stories", I found the development of Kipling as a character entertaining. How much of his life in the book was fact (I assume he did live in Vermont, I assume he was married, etc.) vs. how much was fiction (did he have trouble with money, was he truly writing Jungle Book during this time, etc.) is secondary to a well rounded book. Just as Mowgli grows up, so does the neighbor boy, Joe, and so does Kipling upon the birth of his own son. ( )