Babar the King (Babar Series)

I had not really planned to share the Babar books with my child as I thought of them as being outdated and a bit too depressing for today's kids. However, my son heard about Babar somewhere and was curious so we got Babar the King and The Story of Babar from the library. He could take or leave The Story of Babar but found Babar the King absolutely captivating. The pictures are fabulously detailed and sometimes humorous. The story focuses on the building of Celesteville and the activities of the elephants--going to school, swimming in the lake, celebrating their town, etc. The explanation of all the different occupations of the elephants is very interesting to my nearly 6 year old. There are also some funny parts and a nice message about focusing on the positive at the end. While it doesn't have a traditional plot, it is quite an enjoyable read. It is pretty long, it generally takes us about 25 minutes to read the whole thing. It does have a little drama as well--the Old Lady is bit by a snake and Cornelius's house catches on fire and he is injured so keep that in mind if selecting this for a younger or more sensitive child.

The illustrations are delightful and have entranced all the children to whom I have read it.

The messaging/moral of the story isn't subtle at all, but it's very practical. It's sort of not-woke civics for 4 year olds. Hard work and perserverence make Celestville function.

My children and I love this book. They just can't get enough of Babar! The only problem I had, was that one of the pages was badly torn when the book arrived. I just taped it, because the kids were so excited to read it, so I didn't want to have to take all the time it would take to exchange it.

My Babar books were my favorite as a child so I often give them as gifts to get some other child started on these beautiful stories. I do wish that the publisher still used cursive writing rather than type (it made these books seem more "special" to me) but the stories hold through the test of time. If the original format was still available I'd rate it five stars.

Perfect harmony between text and drawings, full of humanity, and humor, without denying life's darker sides such as dangers and even death; an infinity of of every-day objects to be pointed out to toddlers and a touching story line for the bigger ones, including all of us who have the good fortune to have stayed young at heart. For ever to be cherished

Lovely story. I got the Babar stuffed animal to go with it.

A whole page was missing from the story.

First time I have felt compelled to write an Amazon review. Bad quality paper, terrible printing technique - basically seems like a counterfeit. Really disappointed.

Disappointing facsimile of the original book with murky colours compared to the original book. Will be returning.

thanks!

Beautiful full size edition arrived as expected.

lovely story and illustratioins