GREAT CLASSICS IN MINI VERSIONS: THE CASE OF THE JUNGLE BOOK, BY RUDYARD KIPLING

Abstract

One of the contemporary tendencies of children’s literature consists in the boom of editions born of the transformation of universal classic narratives, whether belonging to the oral traditional collection or by specific authors; many even originally published not having as an extratextual recipient the young reader. It predominates adapted objects, with a new style and whose verbal, visual and graphic configuration, denouncing an intentional interactivity, sensoriality and playfulness, makes predict a receiver coincident with the child who does not read or who takes the first steps in reading. The History of the reception The Book of the Jungle (1894), by Rudyard Kipling (Bombay, India, 1865-London, United Kingdom, 1936), and in particular, the five books that make up the textual corpus of this study, adaptations of the classic on the agenda for pre-readers, attest to the mentioned creative line, being of particular relevance in early childhood.