Histoire De Babar (French Edition)

Babar, known globally as "King of the Elephants," first appeared in the much different world of 1931. Europe then found itself still recovering from what would later become known as "The First World War." Explicit colonialism and its often barbaric ethos still reverberated throughout the world. Also, the effects of the aggressively punitive 1919 Treaty of Versailles had begun to form the roots of an unimaginably horrific war soon to come. While Jean de Brunhoff released Babar in France, the Nazis became the second largest political party in Germany, "Mein Kampf" took on bestseller status and Hitler's future prospects looked strong. He promised to "Make Germany Mighty Again." Brunhoff died of tuberculosis in 1937 and missed some of the twentieth century's most violent years, but he managed to produce six more Babar volumes. Many credit his wife, Cecile, for the actual creation of the character, but she never claimed credit herself, apparently because she thought she hadn't played a significant enough role. Creation of the character seems like a fairly significant role, but to each their own. The simple and somewhat tragic "Histoire de Babar" started it all. Reading the book in its original French makes for an even better experience for those with at least beginner to intermediate knowledge. The story begins with Babar's birth and infancy, his mother's care and her shocking death at the hands of "un vilain chasseur" after only a few pages. Babar flees and eventually finds a "ville" with "tant de maisons." There, he finds that he greatly admirers the ways of humans, at least western humans, and thinks "Je voudrais bien avoir aussi un beau costume..." "Une vieille dame très riche," who "aimait beaucoup les petits éléphants," senses Babar's unfulfilled desires and simply hands over "son porte-monnaie" to an elephant that she has never before met. Babar goes on a shopping spree at "le grand magasin," rides the "ascenseur" a few too many times and purchases his iconic "costume d'une agréable couleur verte" along with some now dated fashion accessories, such as "un beau chapeau melon" and "des souliers avec des guêtres." Babar lives with "la vieille dame," tells stories of "la grande forêt" and seems overall content, but he misses his life with the elephants. That's when "Arthur et Céleste," Babar's "petit cousin" and "cousine," suddenly appear, "tout nus," after "deux années." They reunite, Babar buys then "beaux costumes," they eat "bons gâteaux," some of which resemble "Capezzoli di Venere," and back home "dans la grande forêt", an anguished search for "Arthur et Céleste" begins. Even "les singes" help out. Here the story takes a dramatic turn. Eventually, "un vieux marabout" spots the young runaway "éléphants" and notifies "les mamans d'Arthur et de Céleste." The "bien contentes" yet angry mothers find the now fully clothed young "éléphants" in "la ville." Babar makes the understandable but difficult decision to return to his first home with all of "les éléphants." Saying goodbye to "la vieille dame," "il lui promet de revenir" and "la vieille dame" watches wistfully as Babar's auto, with two "éléphants courent derrière et lèvent leurs trompes pour ne pas respirer la poussière," and thinks "quand reverrai, je mon petit Babar?" That same day, the current "roi des éléphants" eats a "mauvais champignon" and quickly expires. That makes two deaths in a short children's book. Times were once bolder or less protective, apparently. Luckily for Babar, but not so much for the now dead "roi," when Babar returns to "la forêt," "les éléphants" offer him the vacant "éléphant" throne. He accepts, but also proclaims that, "pendant notre voyage en auto, Céleste et moi nous nous sommes fiancés." In other words, Babar will marry his "cousine." Well, he is royalty. Babar requests "une grande fête pour notre mariage et notre couronnement." All "les animaux" attend and "tout le monde danse de bon cœur." Happiness descends on "la grande forêt" and then "Babar et Céleste" board "un superbe ballon jaune" and set out for "nouvelles aventures." Who smells a sequel? Similar to other famous works that endure through multiple decades, Babar has both maintained its fantastic reputation and received criticism as a potential colonialist narrative. The book arguably insinuates that the human lifestyle, specifically from the western or European perspective, stands superior over the more "wild" and "tout nus" animal lifestyle. For some, this opens the book up to an imperialist and "European supremacy" interpretation. The book doubtlessly reflects the ethos of its age and takes its inherited social framework for granted. Such things are good to point out and to keep in mind, but readers can also simply enjoy the funny and silly story as a fabulous tale of an anthropomorphic elephant adventure. For those looking for a good resource to learn French, the language of "Histoire de Babar" remains fairly simple throughout. Only basic verb forms, "présent," "passé composé," "imparfait" and "futur," appear. The vocabulary presents no difficulties that "un dictionnaire" can't address. A more challenging piece appears at book's end, called "Mon père de Jean de Brunhoff," by Laurent de Brunhoff, and requires a higher level of French than the main story. Though interesting, readers can skip this epilogue until their French improves. "Histoire de Babar," now a classic in many languages, provides a great read from multiple perspectives: a great children's book, a great French learner's book, an encapsulation of its time and an unforgettable tale recognized the world over. "Longue vie au roi!"

My mother read these books to me as a child and now I am learning French. I decided children’s books would be fun to learn with and why not French stories that I loved as a child! Beautiful book

The kids enjoyed this story and especially the character of Babar the Elephant.

Great book but the cursive is a little hard to get through, especially not being fluent in French.

Great buy. I'm glad I have the original version. I hadn't realized how colonial poor Babar is. Truly, this realization broke my heart--almost as much as the death of Babar's mother when I first read the story in English so many years ago. Might be good for using with high school French students as there are many grammatical tenses on display and kids already know the story.

I recommend this for French speaking children in lower elementary grades, and for adults who are learning French. I hope to share this with children in Haiti.

Very nice packaging and nice quality book!

Fun for kids... Classic French book!

Une belle édition refaite "comme celle de l'époque", en cartonné avec l'écriture et les images tout à fait similaires à la première édition. Évidemment, le style des illustrations et le ton ont un peu vieilli, mais l'histoire reste émouvante et permet de découvrir les origines de l'une des icônes de la littérature jeunesse. De beaux moments complices en perspective pour petits et grands.

we are pleased with this book. The story is nice and long - good value for money. book of a good quality, nicely written and nice pictures. we recommend it.

super, mon petit fils de 21 mois adore

La storia, i disegni e i personaggi sono classici ed interessanti. Ottimo per una lettura rilassante ed in francese.

Très mignon et. Bon prix.