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May 31, 2009

Ceridwen rated it:

Recently, my family rented a cabin for a week. Now, most cabins have a collection of books that the owners leave around, and it's usually along the lines of a swap shelf with a bunch of thrillers, romance novels, and the lesser known works of 70s scifi authors. This cabin was notable in the quality and quantity of its books. There was an OED (the older edition with the magnifying glass), various field guides, Virginia Woolf, Greek myths, someone's dissertation in hardcover, historical mysteries, More...

11 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2008

Chandra rated it:

What a very odd story! On one hand this is a very silly story about an elephant who gains some sophistication in the big city returning to rule and civilize his old herd. I think that is all children see. But on the other hand there are some disturbing elements - death, violence and colonial attitudes. I don't think the latter really makes this a bad book though. It just works on 2 levels - it delights children book and gives us adults an interesting peek into a different era.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 19, 2010

Garnette added it

I am opening a bookstore. And yes, of course, it is a life-long dream. Tried to just after my divorce thirty years ago and now, here it is again. The wheel has turned. So despite the worry and work of starting a business (state, federal busy.ness), I get to procure books. At first I thought I would just sell my collection - then there was the heartbreak of actually parting from the majority - which I decided not to do one tearful night.

So many people are donating books to salve my so More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 18, 2009

T.R. rated it:

I'm not planning to add children's books to my page, but this one really took my breath away as I read it to my one year old one night.

First of all, Babar's mother is shot on like page two. There she is lying dead with the gloating hunter holding his rifle. Yikes! Little orphan Babar meekly watches on, barely a tear in his elephant eye.

However, this isn't enough to warrant a review. It's what comes next. Babar's story then unfolds as some bizarre French colonial wish More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Eva rated it:

3.5 - Has anyone else read any of the reviews left here?!?! Holy shit! Get a grip people! This is Babar, it's a book for children for God's sake. "Gasp! A dead elephant! Good heavens!", "Gasp! Don't go to the white people's city Babar or else I can't read this to my kids!", "Oh my gosh! Tell me that's not a gun! That character can't be hunting, can he?"
Good Lord. I'd hate to spend a day with these people. I don't like hunting. I don't mind guns. But Lord keep More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2011

Amy rated it:

Babar first came into my life at when I was 8 and in 3rd grade. I will always remember because that was the happiest grade-school year of my whole life. I was going to private school with a wonderful, sweet teacher and awesome friends. Among all the wonderful things my teacher did with us were some of the neat things in the classroom, some being her supply of story books. Naturally as an animal lover, I grabbed this book during silent reading because I needed some reading material.

T More...

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Jul 21, 2009

Erik rated it:

I have no idea if the edition Mother read to me was in English or Norwegian translation--probably the latter, as Mom was still learning back then. In any case, I first recall seeing this book when she and I were in Minneapolis. Dad was about to finish a lengthy training course as an application engineer with Honeywell up there and we were visiting, staying in a downtown hotel memorable for having a tv and a vibrating bed.

Dad drove home with us, stopping in EuClaire, Wisconsin en ro More...

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Mar 02, 2010

Raja99 rated it:

I've read this numerous times; I had it as a child, and now I'm reading it to our 5-year-old.

We have a particularly handsome facsimile edition; it's huge (14.5 inches high) and reproduces the hand lettering from the first American edition. Also, the back of the dust-wrapper reprints a handwritten introduction (which reads like a fan letter) from A. A. Milne.

In comparing it with a machine-lettered modern edition, there are a few changes in the text e.g., a dropped comma, More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Allison rated it:

Babar! Oh, I've loved Babar since I was a little girl almost a half-century ago! I truly believe Babar is the reason I wanted to learn French so badly as a child. I love the whole series. This book is where I first learned one shouldn't eat mushrooms one finds growing in the wild.

Babar is a great story that shows that all strangers are not bad, education, obligation to country and respect for the wisdom and experience of elders is wise while also introducing children to the idea of poa More...

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Jan 01, 2011

Lauren (Flame) rated it:

This is a sad story in the beginning when poor Babar's mother dies to a hunter so Babar runs off to the city in Paris and meets a rich old lady who takes him in and buys him new fancy clothes and a car he likes his life in the city, but Babar was becoming homesick after being in the city for two years. Then one day Babar saw his little cousins Celeste and Arther who had run from home to find him, and Babar takes them to the store to buy new clothes. After a few days in the city Arther's and Cele More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Julie rated it:

We went back through our blue hardcover book that is a collection of the "best of 20th century" fiction for children. My son and I realized that there were 3 stories we never read, this being the second. This was by far the lamest excuse for a story I've ever seen, even worse than "Jenny Linsky & the Cat Club." This goes to show that we either had terrific intuition in skipping these stories in the first place, or, it's impossible to go back when your child is in (or you a More...

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Jan 14, 2009

Marya rated it:

Babar is a shopaholic? After his mother is murdered and he is chased by the hunter who did, his first desire is to...buy some sharp looking threads? And when Celeste and Arthur visit him for the first time in the city, what does he do? Buy them clothes of course! And when he returns with Celeste and Arthur to the jungle in his swanky new car(nice image there; Celeste and Arthur's mothers have to run behind the car with their trunks held up to avoid the belching smoke), what does he do when to More...

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Aug 31, 2009

Shanna rated it:

Babar the elephant is born to loving mother and lives happily in the forest with her until she is killed by a wicked hunter. On fleeing from the hunter, he finds himself in a city. When he sees the people there are wearing clothes he wishes that he could do the same, and an empathetic Old Lady buys him a fine suit and takes him home. He lives with her until two of his runaway cousins cross his path. When he returns them to the forest he decides to stay, and the elephants choose him as their More...

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Nov 24, 2008

Molly rated it:

I remember being in love with Babar as a child, but I'm thinking they must have been the updated stories. Not only did my preschooler not really enjoy this lengthy tale, I was almost too embarrassed to keep reading! I knew going in that it was a colonial allegory, but geez! I mean we see his mom shot and killed and Babar is sad, but he's ok by the next day because a rich old lady wants to buy him some clothes! Then he goes out to civilize his former herd (who of course want to make him king beca More...

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Feb 13, 2011

Nikki Faith rated it:

Another banned book. Poor little Babar. His mom is shot and killed while he's riding on her back! Not a cheery way to kick of a children's picture book. Life does get better for Babar though, and when the king is poisoned and dies, well, he gets to be the next king. I didn't find anything really compelling in this book though, and it would definitely have it's sad moments for children. No need to ban it though. It's kind of like Bambi meets Lion King. ;) Again - the key with so many books - tal More...

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Sep 09, 2009

Amy rated it:

This is definitely one of my favorite books of all time. I loved, and still love, its sweet storyline, of the poor little elephant who ends up in Paris, and goes on elevators, and is dressed in an improbable green suit, and then returns to Africa where he is chosen to be King, and marries Celeste, and they have darling baby elephant triplets. What also affected me was the cursive manuscript used in the original editions. The challenge of reading the text was an important part of the pleasure I More...

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Aug 14, 2011

Suzanne rated it:

I remember Babar from when I was a small girl. This was one of my favorite books. (published in 1931) I remember having sad feelings for the baby elephant when his mother was killed by the hunter. I also remember how happy I felt for him when he was befriended by the old woman.

This weekend I reread the book to a young library patron. She wanted to know why I was posing with a life size elephant in a picture I had hanging in my office. Well that day goes back to 2008 at the Tex More...

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Mar 15, 2010

Valerie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Dec 26, 2011

Kelly rated it:

As a child I was drawn to Babar (a name I just recently learned is pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable --buh-BAR) partly because the books were written in cursive handwriting. At five, I couldn’t decipher the curly letters, but oh, how I wanted to.

When I could at last read the words, I felt as if I’d cracked some sort of ancient code, so the books always felt quite magical to me. The French names only added to the mystique.

Little did I know the books would More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 06, 2010

JabBeRwoCkY rated it:

My mother was given a collection of the Babar tales from a friend, so the books were quite tattered when I received them in first grade. Even so, the pictures moved me even before I could read the stories by myself. I remember developing quite a passion for elephants from the story of Babar, and learning about the illegal poaching of these great creatures in elementary school. In addition, the story of Babar and his adventures taught me at an early age that anything is possible.

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Jan 08, 2009

Shauntel rated it:

So, although this book is about elephants, which we all love I was sad about the dying mother elephant. I was a little thrown off by the elephant leaving the "forest" and adapting so easily into human life. And I think it is pretty long and uses too many big words for kids to really enjoy. But I respect that it was written in a different time period (1930s) so that probably has a lot to do with it.

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Jan 21, 2012

Lauren rated it:

My parents bought this book for my 3 year old son and I remember reading Babar books as a child. I am not sure if I read this one, but I certainly didn't remember that Babar's mom dies in the book! Tough subject matter for a 3 year old. My son has another Babar book as well and loves for us to read both of them to him but honestly I do not enjoy reading them as an adult.

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Apr 22, 2009

Jenna rated it:

i liked the book, the writing is a bit odd, the story is odd and the pictures too, that is what i liked about it. My daughter, on the other hand, never wants to read it again because in the beginning, Babar's mom is shot and killed and she didn't know why that had to be in the book. We are reading other Babar books now b/c she likes him, just not the sad part.

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Oct 15, 2011

Ann rated it:

The second page of the book makes me teary-eyed every time I read it, but the rest of the time you spend admiring the gumption of the little (and then not so little) elephant Babar and marvel at his escapades and adventures. I love all the Babar books written by Jean de Brunhoff, but this is by far my favorite.

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Aug 14, 2009

Jack Kirby and the X-man rated it:

I remember Babar the TV series from my youth - and I was always curious how the story began.

The story is pretty full-on compared with the fluffy nice children's stories that are so common. There is death (Babar's mum & the King of the Elephants), there is a potentially concerning possibly incestuous, possibly pedophilic marriage between Babar and his much younger cousin, a potentially concerning relationship between an old lady and an elephant, and the underlying colonial mentality More...

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Dec 05, 2008

Vincent rated it:

Despite the controversies that surround this book, it is delightful. Recently there was a spectacular exhibition of the creating of this book at the Morgan Library in New York City. It was very enlightening. The unsung heroine in this book is Jean de Brunhoff's wife who created the character.

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Dec 07, 2010

Emily rated it:

My favourite childrens book, and my mums favourite before me.
Amongst 'Spot the dog' and 'Kipper' this is a classic that up until today I had almost forgotten about.
the story itself may not be written to the intellect of today, however, its one that sticks with you with its images and sweet story.

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Jun 27, 2011

Andrea rated it:

I remember Babar from when I was little but didn't love this book. Babar's mom is killed on one page and on the next he is in town buying clothes or something. Seemed to skip around and was a little silly for me. I am sure the boys didn't mind it though. Will have to try another one.

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Mar 13, 2011

Charlotte rated it:

I am familiar with the newer Babar series and was excited to read the first book of the series.

I am horrified. What a very strange book! It isn't that coherent of a story to begin with and it reeks of colonialism. The illustrations are the only redeeming quality.

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May 26, 2010

Joy rated it:

Level: Primary-Intermediate

Babar is a little elephant who runs away from a hunter and finds himself in a city. He is found by a rich Old Lady who takes him in and Babar dresses like a human and lives with her for awhile.

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