The Jungle Book

The 12th book that I have read is The Jungle Book, written by Indian-born Englishman Rudyard Kipling. It has 5 parts, 3 of them can be one story, while the other two can be separate stories. The overall book has the usual rating: 5/5!

Here is the summary of the story:

Parts 1, 2, and 3
It starts when Mother and Father Wolf finds a man-cub in the bushes. Shere Khan, the menacing tiger, argues about the ownership of the man-cub with the wolves. However, the wolves claim ownership of the man-cub, which they named Mowgli the Frog. At the meeting at Council Rock, Shere Khan once again argues about who should own Mowgli. Akela, the leader of the wolves, asked which two non-parent members would speak for the cub. Baloo, the brown bear, and Bagheera, the Black Panther, had spoken for Mowgli. Shere Khan was dismayed that Mowgli was not handed over to him.

After 10 or 11 years, Mowgli had learned the Law of the Jungle, as well as how to hunt. Baloo and Bagheera both taught him how to do these things. Later, however, he is kidnapped by the Monkey People. Baloo and Bagheera called Kaa, the Rock Snake to help them rescue Mowgli. Chil the Kite helped spread the word in an effort to get more creatures helping in the rescue. Mowgli was later saved by the three, but later, the pack had cast him out. He was forced into the human world and after a while, gets punished for interrupting a story. The punishment, however, was herding the cattle. Mowgli heard that Shere Khan was coming back to kill him. Along with Akela and another wolf, Rama, they plotted a plan to trick Shere Khan. He was later killed and his skin was placed on top of Council Rock for all time.

Part 4
This part is about a mongoose that saved a human family from snakes--three times! Named Rikki-tikki-tavi, the mongoose was adopted by a family. Darzee, the Tailorbird, said that Nag, a snake, ate one of their babies. The mongoose fought Nag and won, saving the family for the first time because another snake had attacked the son. Nag and his wife had plotted to attack the family once more. But once again, the mongoose attacked Nag, saving the family for the second time. When Nag’s wife, Nagaina, was preparing to attack the family, the mongoose attacked the snake, saving the family for the third time. Before that, Darzee had distracted Nagaina while the mongoose crushed Nagaina’s eggs. The mongoose has been feared by snakes ever since.

Part 5
Kala Nag, “black snake”, was a large elephant that had served in the Indian government for about 50 years. He is nearly 70 now, and memories of past events filled his mind. Whenever the elephants ran wild, the men had called on him to tame them. A young boy named Little Toomai had been punished for trying to be an elephant hunter. But one night Kala Nag took Little Toomai into the jungle. Little Toomai got to see something that the other elephant catchers couldn’t see: the dancing of the elephants. At the time, the term “when the elephants dance” meant never but his experience proved it otherwise. However, because of this, Little Toomai is widely known around the community and is a great help in the elephant-catching business.

-End of Summary-

Alice in Wonderland

The 11th book that I have read is Alice in Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), which, despite its title, is suitable for both genders. Like all the other books I have read, the story is filled with adventure. 5/5!

Here is the summary of the story.

A young girl named Alice finds that a white rabbit is rushing to some kind of event. She follows him down the rabbit hole and finds that she is too small to enter a door she wanted to enter. She finds a key for that door and finds a drink that would shrink her. She realizes that she left the key on the table and eats a cake that makes her nine feet tall! She soon sees after a few moments that she is now in a forest and keeps on changing sizes throughout the story. She also finds out that everyone in the forest is insane. After a tea party with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, she enters the small door from earlier into a garden. The Queen of that land offers Alice to play croquet, with flamingos as mallets, hedgehogs as balls, and two playing cards with heads, arms, and legs as the arches. She executes many players to settle the arguments. Afterward, they are in a trial where the Knave of Hearts is accused of stealing the tarts (obviously from the nursery rhyme). Alice soon snaps out of her daydream.

-End of Summary-

Side note: the “1 in 45 chance” from the previous entry/review involves a mathematical concept called factorials.

Here’s how it’s done:

___n!___
(n-r)!r!
With 10 as n (number of items), and 2 as r (books I didn’t like), this is the new structure:
___10!___
(10-2)!2!
We can simplify further:
___10!___
8!2!
Solving for the factorials by canceling out the factorials, we get:
___90___
2
90/2=45. It is a 1 in 45 chance.

Because I have read 11 books, the chance becomes less likely (1 in 55).

If this is too confusing, ask me to explain it further. J