Many people are familiar with The Jungle Book through one or more of its many film adaptions, with the Disney film adaptations probably the most familiar to American audiences. Since these adaptations routinely take great liberties with the source materials, the general public has many misconceptions about the 1894 book on which they are (loosely) based. Some of these films alter the story so much that they no longer pretend the movie is "based" on Rudyard Kipling's book, but rather "inspired by" it.
Many people are surprised to discover that The Jungle Book is not a novel, but rather a collection of seven stories--only the first three of which tell the Mowgli story that most people...