The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling One of the most famous feral children of all time, ‘man-cub’ Mowgli flees the tiger Shere Khan only to be rescued and raised by a wolf pack and taught the ways of the jungle.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak The story of young Max, who sails from his bedroom to an island inhabited by beasts and is soon made king of the ‘wild things’ he finds there, is one of the most-loved picture books of the 20th century.
The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley This Victorian story of Christian redemption takes place when Tom the chimney sweep falls into a river and dies, undergoing a transformation into a ‘water baby’ and receiving a series of moral lessons from the underwater creatures he comes across.
The New Adventures of Tarzan by Andy Briggs Brought up in the African jungle by apes, Tarzan is the archetypal feral child. His adventures continue today, commissioned by the estate of his creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
When I was 11, I had a serious head injury and I had to learn to speak properly again. The slow process of rehabilitation meant that I was an outsider at school. When I became a writer, I found myself drawn towards characters who don’t quite fit into society. So it was natural for me to be
fascinated with legends and myths about children being brought up by animals and struggling to become part of human society. I was attracted to stories like
Tarzan, who was brought up by apes; the so-called ‘Wild Boy of Aveyron’, found in a French forest in the 18th century; and the Indian ‘wolf children’ discovered in the early 20th century. When the New Zealand film director Vincent Ward and I decided to work on a project together, we gravitated towards finding an Australian take on such stories. There was no real-life basis to
the story we came up with about two girls raised by Tasmanian tigers, but we speculated that as the tigers’ behaviour was close to that of wolves – who have brought up children in legends – it could be a possible scenario.