Meet Babar and His Family [Hardcover]

Laurent de Brunhoff (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up | Series: Babar

Beginning in Spring 2001, Abrams began to reissue the backlist of original Laurent de Brunhoff Babar stories. For Spring 2002, Abrams presents its first two in a series of low-cost, small format books, Meet Babar and His Family and Babar's Little Girl Makes a New Friend. Starting with a beautiful spring day, Babar and his family enjoy many activities, outdoors and in. As the seasons change, they do different things for fun. As soon as the plants and trees begin to bud in spring, Babar and the children raise a garden throughout the summer. On very hot days, it's ice cream and tennis. When autumn arrives, the family enjoys the beautiful colors of the leaves. Finally, it is winter, and it's time for fun in the snow! The changing seasons are a perfect way for young readers to meet Babar and his family!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Illus. in full color. Seasonal activities of King Babar and his elephant family.   --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 30 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810905558
• ISBN-13: 978-0810905559
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Classic, March 5, 2008

By 

Heather J. Wilkinson (Luxembourg) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Meet Babar and His Family (Hardcover)

This is the original, wonderful Babar. It was my favorite as a child (I still have the 1973 original edition) and I am happy to be able to share this gentle story and its beautiful illustrations with my own child today. There is nothing to be afraid of in this book, including the minor boo-boo, which is bloodless and something any child can relate to. The point of this book is not to teach about the seasons, but to enjoy seeing the fun things that the elephants in the charming kingdom of Celesteville do all year. From picking apples to skiing, the family has fun together. Santa doesn't appear in this book, even though one reviewer said otherwise, and I can't imagine why another reviewer said it's really the same as Barney. Nonsense. That is like seeing no difference between a smiley face sticker and a pretty, though simple, painting.

Additionally, Babar is an important French character, and if you want to introduce your child to French culture, this is a good start. This story gives several glimpses of traditions still very much alive in Europe, like buying a cake before coming to tea at a friend's house, and listening to an outdoor orchestra on the plaza in the summertime. An A+ book about the comforts of family, and the joys of life throughout the year.

4.0 out of 5 stars Three may be a little young, July 22, 2011

By 

Riddle - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meet Babar and His Family (Hardcover)

I loved the Babar books when I was little so I bought them quickly for my three year old daughter. some of the content is a little above a three year olds cognitive ability (ex: death of Babar's mother, children about to get eaten by crodcodile...)...I think better for a 4-5 year old.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Book to Read in the Babar Series, November 8, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Meet Babar and His Family (Paperback)

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Meet Babar and His Family was one of her picks.

The Babar books belong in every home with children. If you already know the series, I'm certain that you agree. If you don't know Babar and his family, you should. They represent idealized "family values" as elephants together. Their relationships with others are ideal as well, including their elephant friends, other animal friends, and the Old Lady (a human) who teaches school in Celestville, where they all live. I also like introducing children to a world where animals may have more authority than people do. That can help establish all kinds of interesting new thoughts about our relationship to the natural world.

Meet Babar and His Family has a good balance of illustrations, actions, and story development to keep your youngster's mind occupied while you read to him or her during the preschool years. Later, your child will be reading this and other Babar stories to you. Memorizing what you have read aloud and learning to follow along with the words will be part of that process of learning to read.

As the title suggests, this story is built around introducing each of the characters, helping you understand their qualities and role in the series, and showing the kinds of activities they typically do. The only aspect of the stories that is not fully developed is that Babar and his wife, Celeste, are king and queen of the elephants and rule over Celesteville. But they are wearing their crowns and are identified as king and queen, so you can expand on this theme of the later stories easily enough.

Most of the other stories in the series do not include all of these characters, so finding them all here will make it easier for your child to understand the other stories when you move on to them.

The Babar family's children are Pom, Flora, and Alexander. As is usual, they get a little too active, and one of them gets hurt (Pom, in this case) and is treated by Doctor Capoulosse. Naturally, Babar's young cousin Arthur is in the story, playing with his friend Zephir, the monkey. Cornelius, the oldest of the elephants, has tea with the Old Lady.

The story takes you through four seasons' worth of activities, including ones that the family does together (like go skating, picnicing, and listening to a concert) as well as children's activities (like a snowball fight, going to school, and taking the school bus). The Babar family likes to be together with their friends, also.

After you have enjoyed this warm family story, I suggest that you get out your calendar for the year ahead and jot down the activities that you would like to do with your family and friends. Then speak, call, go on-line, or write to make the arrangements. Spending the time you want with those you love requires a little planning and putting a priority on this activity. After all, you probably were looking forward to having a nice family life when you got married and decided to have your first child, weren't you? Stalled thinking, lazy habits, and lack of focus can keep you from enjoying this opportunity. Be like Babar and Celeste and be the royalty of your family by leading on to worthwhile activities!

Live a full and happy family life together!