Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Classic
Review: I had a beach Babar book as a child, so I bought this to share with my daughter. It is kind of bizarre, so keep in mind that it was written in the 1930's. First, Babar's mother is killed, as was the fate of most classic animal stories. Then, he decides to become more like men, HOW ODD! He wears clothes and walks on his back legs. Any time any of the elephants in this book wear clothes, they gain the instant ability to walk on their hind legs. When he returns to the elephants, he is crowned king, which is unlikely since elephants are matriarchal (they are led by females and grown males are banned from the group except during mating times). Then he marries his cousin, and they live happily ever after. In the spirit of Curious George, who was kidnapped from his home and forced to conform to human ways, this is a charming but very out-dated tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Babar, a Classic
Review: I have fond memories of tracing my fingers over the elephants, enjoined trunk to tail, which walked over the back and front of our huge BABAR book. Thanks to a thoughtful baby gift from my cousin, I continue to do so, with my two sons. We enjoy finding Babar among the other little elephants and weep together over his mother`s cruel demise. We continue to delight at his resilience and enjoy with him his first experiences with people things, and always rejoice at his good fortune and friends.While there are some problematic elements, ( as when the hunter shoots Babar`s mother or when he marries his cousin,) please keep in mind when this was written and do not let this stop you from sharing this classic with your young ones. Parents and caretakers should seize this great opportunity to talk with them while addressing the issues. There are many positive aspects to the story and the characters, themselves. Delightfully illustrated and charmingly told, the one drawback is that the text, while charming for adults reading aloud, can be an obstacle to early readers.
Rating:
Summary: Babar, a Classic
Review: I have fond memories of tracing my fingers over the elephants, enjoined trunk to tail, which walked over the back and front of our huge BABAR book. Thanks to a thoughtful baby gift from my cousin, I continue to do so, with my two sons. We enjoy finding Babar among the other little elephants and weep together over his mother`s cruel demise. We continue to delight at his resilience and enjoy with him his first experiences with people things, and always rejoice at his good fortune and friends. While there are some problematic elements, ( as when the hunter shoots Babar`s mother or when he marries his cousin,) please keep in mind when this was written and do not let this stop you from sharing this classic with your young ones. Parents and caretakers should seize this great opportunity to talk with them while addressing the issues. There are many positive aspects to the story and the characters, themselves. Delightfully illustrated and charmingly told, the one drawback is that the text, while charming for adults reading aloud, can be an obstacle to early readers.
Rating: 
Summary: pretty scary for a young child
Review: I purchased this book thinking that Babar is one of the great classics and how much my 4 year old would love it. Well, I'm glad I read it first. The first thing that happens to Babar is that his mother is killed by poachers. How frightening is that for a young child? Then, left alone in the world, he goes off on his own, has wonderful adventures (the part of the book that's fine) only to come back and marry his cousin. Well, those are not the sorts of things that I'm willing to expose my young children to.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely book for children
Review: I read Babar the Elephant as a child and he made me dream of someday going to France and living a marvelous life like Babar and his family did there. Books such as "Babar the Elephant" truely do awake in a child a want and need to explore different worlds different than their own. I know I maybe just talking out of experience, but as a child I took every moment to enrich my little mind in something as big as dreaming of going to France to see the Effiel Tower and such. Little children need time to read this book to explore the true self inside themselves, to search out this petite explore to the world of culture as Babar does in his books. Babar is different from the Bearstein Bears; Babar is a middle class man/elephant that has a family and a house in middle class Paris and he does ordinary things as well as out of the ordinary things. Like coming to America and flying around in Hot Air Ballons and wild things such as that. A child with the need to read really should read "Babar the Elephant" and all his great adventures. Great imaginations, especially young ones shouldn't go to waste let them dream of different lives in a different country--because dreams really can come true somday---I went to France when I was finally 17 years old--three whole years ago. So It Doesn't Hurt to Dream When You are A Child.
Rating:
Summary: Charming elephant story holds preschoolers in thrall
Review: My children adored this book from a very early age due to the charm of the text and the pictures. The bon-bons, the kind old lady, the suit of clothes, all create a Parisian fantasy for the big, shy Babar. My kids are now high-schoolers and take French. I like to think it was due to those first images of the Tour Eiffel in this book! Every kid should have this delightful story. My high schoolers still enjoy a trip down memory lane once in awhile with Babar.
Rating:
Summary: Babar should be shared between many generations of a family
Review: My father read it to me. I read it to my boys, and now my grandchildren have met the gentle, bemused, wise elephant, his wife Celeste, the old lady, and the little elephants Flora, Pom and Arthur. I confidently assume I'll be reading Babar to great-grandkids one day. As in so many animal stories, there's the loss of a parent, followed by the assumption of responsibilities and rank. Babar is different, however. Just look at the insouciant way he wears his crown. As a small child, a half-century ago, I liked the endpapers best, with the elephant parade: nose to tail. As an adult, I appreciate the deadpan tone of the narrative as Babar learns how to rule. His creator has given him the correct dignified posture to grace his human clothing. People with too much time on their hands have offered literary criticism of this series. Children know better, and simply enjoy the stories and pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Babar Lives On!
Review: 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. I ordered this book for my children, and hope they love it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: A childhood's classic.
Review: Some children's books can be read over and over again, and Jean De Brunhoff's book about Babar, the little elephant is among them.
The copy we have in our house were purchasted in 1988 and has survived 4 kids. Out Marta is the forth one, and at age 6 she still loves to cuddle up with a smile on her face listening to the story of Babar. The very sad part for a six year old is the beginning where Babar's mother dies and Babar runs away. But Babar is lucky and meets an old lady who takes care of him. And the joy is always big in the end when Babar meets his childhood friends and cousins again in the end of the books. And even becomes a king and marries his cousin Celeste.
The book was written in 1939, but is still well worth reading for any child, and should be part of every lucky child's book collection. It will still be read again and again here in Norway, though the pages in the copy we have almost fall apart now (they can always be glued together again though) Britt Arnhild Lindland
Rating:
Summary: If I were king of the foreeeeest
Review: Thank God for the French speakers of the world. Were it not for them, Babar might not have ever been created and we would have to live in a wretched Babar-less world. As it is, however, we are blessed to have this delightful story at our fingertips at any time. The story of Babar was originally published in 1933, and it has stood the test of time with dignity and flair. The story of Babar is simple. After his mother is shot by a cruel hunter, the little elephant runs away to a metropolitan city. Once there, he is taken under the wing of a kindly older lady. Babar then proceeds to become the greatest dandy of children's literature today. Here is the section I love the most: "Babar then buys himself: A shirt with a collar and tie, a suit of a becoming shade of green, then a handsome derby hat, and also shoes with spats". Contrary to popular thought, an elephant in spats is the most dignified thing in the world. With these purchases Babar has transformed himself from rural rube to the original metrosexual. He becomes cultured, learning the rudimentary aspects of human civilization while regaling party guests with his tales of the forest (note his pin-striped pants and casual dinner jacket). Eventually Babar is lured back to his jungle home and is swiftly crowned King of the elephants. The 1933 setting in which Babar acclimatizes himself has grown more charming over the years. And most remarkably? Most older picture books contain at least one racial stereotype somewhere in the midst of a picture. Not so our darling "Babar". I feel safe in saying that you might search through any future adventure of the winsome elephant and not stumble across a single picture or piece of writing that causes you a twenty-first century gasp of disgust. This isn't to say that there aren't some rather peculiar dated aspects to the book. I read this book as a child and had a vivid visceral memory return to me when I saw the sickly state of the former King of the elephants who passed away after eating a bad mushroom. That is a grotesquerie unknown to the kiddies today. But all in all, "Babar" is without fault. Certainly he's the essence of capitalism. One might believe the elephants crown him king as much for his pretty red convertible as for his brains. But Babar is still a unique and moving tale that will continue to entertain the masses of children for years and years to come.
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