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Jean de Brunhoff

The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant Hardcover – Picture Book, January 1, 1961

by Jean De Brunhoff (Author)

546 ratings

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The classic story of literature’s most beloved elephant. After his mother is killed by a hunter, Babar avoids capture by escaping to the city, where he is befriended by the kindly Old Lady. Later, with cousins Celeste and Arthur, he returns to the great forest to be crowned King of the Elephants. With the original illustrations from Jean de Brunhoff's 1931 classic, this first Babar story has enchanted generations.

Reading age

4 - 8 years
Print length

56 pages
Language

English
Grade level

Preschool - 3
Lexile measure

AD610L
Dimensions

8.38 x 0.41 x 11.38 inches
Publisher

Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication date

January 1, 1961
ISBN-10

0394805755
ISBN-13

978-0394805757
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Story of Babar--the early adventures of the enduring, endearing elephant--was written in 1931 by French writer Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937). Since then, it has been translated into at least 12 languages. It's amazing how much can happen to one little elephant in the course of one little book: Babar loses his mother to a hunter, wanders into the city, gets a new wardrobe, becomes the hit of high society, marries his cousin Céleste (totally acceptable in contemporary Elephantine society), and is crowned King of the Elephants.

The Story of Babar is essentially the tale of a country boy who comes to the city and, while there, comes of age. In the end, he returns home to share his knowledge and experiences with family and friends. The beautiful, delightfully detailed illustrations--de Brunhoff was a painter by trade--never fail to amuse. (Although none of the characters seem to notice, the sight of Babar in a suit leaning against the mantel while he regales his audience with tales of the jungle is plainly hilarious.) All of the Babar books are notable for their ability to tell larger stories with simplicity and style, and The Story of Babar is no exception. Potentially troubling moments--the death of Babar's mother, for example--are handled with taste, emphasizing Babar's unique gift for uncovering a silver lining in the most persistent of clouds. (Ages 4 to 8, though the cursive writing makes it best for reading aloud.)

Review

"With many absurd and funny pictures, these tales of the popular elephant furnish hours of enjoyment to the young person."--Elementary English

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Books for Young Readers (January 1, 1961)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 56 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394805755
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394805757
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 4 - 8 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ AD610L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ Preschool - 3
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.38 x 0.41 x 11.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #22,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46 in Children's Elephant Books (Books)
- #457 in Children's Classics
- #1,191 in Children's Action & Adventure Books (Books)

Customer Reviews:
546 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		83%
4 star		9%
3 star		4%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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mini

Kind of horrifying?

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

I bought this book for my kid's collection because I remembered it fondly from my childhood. It just arrived though and re-reading it, it's a pretty terrible story without any redeeming messages.

Spoilers ahead:
- As mentioned by others, Babar's mom dies almost instantly, and he spends about 4 seconds being sad about it
- The imperialism message is a given, but I'd forgot how horribly pro-consumerism it is; they repeatedly react to tragedy/strife by buying nice clothes and sweets and it's all totally fine
- He gets picked to be king because he's wearing a fancy suit and driving a car
- He randomly decides to marry his juvenile cousin

Sorry if this is an overly millennial/snowflake-like reaction, just hoping I might help someone else avoid the mistake I made. If you're buying it for nostalgia go for it, but otherwise a pretty terrible story and not something I want to read to my kid.

65 people found this helpful

Helpful

A. Cate

Horrible translation, poor story for kids

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

First of all, I learned a lesson to read a book before reading it to my 4 year old. I had no idea this book started off like Bambi and then Babar goes shopping for clothes and that makes him feel better??? What a strange story. The main issue to me is actually the way it is written though, it reads as if it was translated from French to English by someone who didn't know how to speak English and just used a dictionary to do a word for word translation. It has no flow, uses strange words, and most annoyingly, everything is in the present tense. Which is such a weird way to tell a story. It reads like "Babar is now going shopping with the old lady" instead of a more natural sounding Babar then went shopping. It is written like that throughout the book making it nearly unreadable. Does French not have a normal past tense? I would not recommend this book to anyone at all. The story is bad and just weird and the translation issues are hard to get past. I will be donating my copy.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

zizi

The Kids Loved It!

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2020

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Book arrived in a timely fashion and in great condition for a used book. Kids in 2 pre-school classes (2-3 yr olds and 5-6 yr olds) both enjoyed hearing the story of Babar, although some of the older children were very upset to hear that Babar's mommy, was shot and killed by a hunter....so that needs careful attention if you are reading the story to little ones. It was omitted in a reading for the very young ones, and explained with considerable care to the older ones. A good way to help children understand the plight of elephants today. All in all a great success!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Todd Morrison

Wonderfully and engagingly written

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2017

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This is the "Bambi" of children's books. Wonderfully and engagingly written, w fantastic illustrations, this is the book that kicked off the wonderful Babar series.
But- but- but! Like "Bambi"... notice how that's never on TV, ever? The one jarring moment is in the first few pages when a hunter SHOOTS AND KILLS Barbar's mother. You could argue that it's part of the reason the book is so powerful- Babar discovers his independence! - but it is jarring for modern readers, and can be difficult for sensitive children. I loved the book as a child, and I have read it to my son many times... but he had a tough time the first read we did together.

16 people found this helpful

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Jill Rose Catt

Babar is a great friend

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

I just thought of this book the other day. It is a book i used to read to my daughter when she was little. It is simplicity in itself. It talks about life and death, friendship, civilization, celebration. You can show your kids all of life in this book and the following books in the series. And none of you will forget these characters ever.

3 people found this helpful

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M. Cipriano

As a child growing up I was a big fan ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

As a child growing up I was a big fan of Babar- rereading it to my son today, I was a bit taken aback. Some spoilers ahead:
Babar's mother is shot dead on the first few pages
Babar is elected king because he wears a suit and is civilized (compared tot he other "savage" elephants)
A bit heavy on the British Imperialism, the book feels very dated and has a questionable message for children today

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dog Lover

Weird book in retrospect

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

I bought this because my mom read it to me when I was very young. I didn't understand what she was reading at the time and now, after reading it, I understand why I didn't. It's weird in my adult opinion but I like the pictures. I believe the pictures are what I liked as a very little kid. Personally I wouldn't be inclined to read it to a young child because of the deaths especially of the mother. I wouldn't read Grimm's Fairy tales to a kid either for that matter.

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

Babar is a classic children's book. My now thirty-something children grew up loving all of these tales. I bought this to start my elder son's collection for his new family, as I had passed on all of my original books to the child who started his family first.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

James McGrory

A REAL children's book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

This beautiful book is a REAL children's book (as opposed to a book, that adults think children should like!) ..... in that the illustrations are charming and amusing ........ the text is brief, light and simply written ..... all together in a large (slim A4) friendly format.
(Also ...... a fine model for nice hand-writing!)
And at a bargain price!

Ian Thumwood

Classic story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2011

Verified Purchase

I bought this for my 2 year old nephew and would suggest that this is probably the minimum age for this story. Whilst it is obviously a classic children's book, care needs to be taken insofar that Babar's mother get shot and killed by a hunter about 6 pages into the story and, later on, the King Elephant dies after eating a poisonous mushroom. In this respect, the book is very much of it's era and you would imagine that these episodes would not appear in a modern book aimed at the same audience. Children are more sensitive these days. However, the illustrations also stem from this era and I quite like the fact that Babar obviously drives a vintage car and wears spats - a fair trade-off with the book's darker moments, I think.

In summary, this is an essential children's book but whilst the paperback edition is large and colourful, it is obviously not a robust as a hardback book. The story is also written in italics which made a few words difficult to read. However, this book belongs in every child's library and is an essential purchase. Note that some of the illustrations have annotations which have been amended back into English from the original French.

11 people found this helpful

Elizabeth Harrison

Babar is a classic picture book for young children

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2019

Verified Purchase

I ordered this for the grandson of a friend. I think it is a book which most children will enjoy. I can send subsequent books in the series for Christmas and birthdays.

Rebecca Rolfe

Will arrived damaged

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Story is lovely but incorrectly packaged so damaged when delivered- asked for the item to replaced and exactly the same thing happened again

Roger Sheldon

A good tale, but...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2015

Verified Purchase

I loved the Babar Story Book when I was little, over 60 years ago. I ordered this edition expecting the complete book that I remembered as a child, but this contains only the first part and is one of a series of books. That's my fault for not taking care to read up what I was getting in the first place. It's nicely produced and illustrated but my six year old granddaughter found it a little distracting trying to read the script typeface.

One person found this helpful

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