E X T E N S I O N THE JUNGLE BOOK AND SCOUTING Sir Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941, British Army officer) with his sister Agnes, was the founder and first Chief Scout of the Scout Movement (1907). The Scouts welcome girls and boys aged eight to about twenty. There are more than 31 million Scouts in 216 countries and only six countries in the world have got no Scouts: Cuba, Laos, China, North Korea, Myanmar, and Andorra. They wear a uniform to erase1 differences among the various members, and a coloured neckerchief 2 around their neck to indicate the group they belong to3. The organisation is based on loyalty4, friendship, kindness, obedience, adventure, and fun and its objective is helping boys and girls to become better adults in their future. Members are always challenged5 to learn new things and behave6 well, to help other people and improve their characters. For every success, they earn badges7, which decorate their shirt. During his life, Baden-Powell writes some books to explain his method of working with the Scouts, and one in particular is very similar to The Jungle Book. He and Rudyard Kipling live in the same period and in the same places in India and Africa and are friends, so BadenPowell takes inspiration from the history and universe of The Jungle Book and in 1917 he writes The Wolf Cub s Handbook for the junior members of the Scout Movement. Following the stories in the book, the young Scout members re-live Mowgli s adventures thanks to the help of their Scout leaders (the names of The Jungle Book characters are still used for Cub Scout Leaders, for example Akela for the Leader of a Cub Pack) to grow up and work in a cooperative way. 1. to erase: to remove something. 2. neckerchief: 3. to belong to: to be part of something, a group. 4. loyalty: feeling of support. 5. challenged: when someone asks to do something difficult. 6. to behave: to act in a particular way. 7. badge: