You think you know The Jungle Book. You can hypnotize anyone with your rendition of "Trust in Me." You march with the best of them. You want to be just like Mowgli and you think have the bear necessities to do it.

Bad news: You're wrong. If you went into the jungle singing all those songs, you wouldn't get a warm bear hug—instead you would get eaten alive.

Before The Jungle Book was a hit Disney cartoon, it was written by Rudyard Kipling way back in 1894. It is a collection of short stories, featuring three tales about Mowgli, the boy of the jungle, as well as others about a young elephant wrangler, a rare white seal, and a noble mongoose. Each story is a fable of sorts, with a little moral, like believe in yourself, or subjugate the natives.

About that last one: Kipling was a white guy born in India and an advocate of British Imperialism. George Orwell (yes, that Orwell) even called Kipling a "prophet of British imperialism." But that didn't stop people from eating up The Jungle Book the same way the British Empire was eating up territories at the time.

Like salmon swimming upstream, the popular Jungle Book spawned a sequel, the cleverly named Second Jungle Book in 1895 as well as the Third Jungle Book written almost a hundred years later in 1992 by the cryogenically frozen and then thawed Rudyard Kipling. (Just kidding, it was written by someone else entirely.)

The Jungle Book has inspired countless film adaptations, and once Disney got its paws on it, they cranked out musicals, video games, and Happy Meal toys, which is amazing when you consider McDonald's didn't even exist in Kipling's lifetime.

And they just keep going. So if you've already seen the movie, the musical, bought the t-shirt, and played the video game, but you haven't read the book, grab a copy and see how the global Jungle Book fever got started.

Why should you care is a great question when it comes to The Jungle Book. Sure, it has merchandising out the wazoo, but the book itself is well over one hundred years old and more than a little racist (so is the Disney adaptation, if you have any social justice to spare).

If imperialism alone isn't enough to make you care, though, push it aside and consider this: Each story in The Jungle Book is about growing up different and trying to fit in. Kotick, the white seal, is the only white seal ever (plus his story barely fits into the jungle theme). Rikki-tikki is a mongoose, which is a naturally solitary figure, stuck trying to fit in among a human family. And Mowgli is the king of trying to find his place. Is he a man, or is he a wolf? Neither tribe wants him, and he has to find his own way in the world.

So if you haven't been subjugated by an empire and you're free to read whatever you want, instead of toiling away for the Man, pick up a copy of The Jungle Book and see how our protagonists mature.