Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Babar the king
Picture Book Series
For ages 4 to 6
Random House, 1937 ISBN: 978-0394805801
Peace has been restored to the land of the elephants and Babar the King is now ready to begin the process of building a new city on the shores of a pretty lake. Soon a caravan of camels arrives. On their backs they are carrying many of the things that the elephants are going to need to build their new city of Celesteville.
Soon everyone, including Babar’s cousin Arthur and Zephir the monkey, are hard at work. Streets are planned, house sites are marked out, trees are cut down and in no time the city is complete. The hardworking elephants rest after their labors by swimming in the lake and then Babar rewards each of his subjects by giving them gifts of clothes, tools, musical instruments and more. To celebrate the creation of the city Babar also announces that there is going to be a big party in the new park in just a few days time.
Young Babar fans will be fascinated to learn all about how Babar the King founded his city and created a society for his elephants. They will enjoy seeing the elephants at work and at play and will laugh at the Arthur and Zephir who simply cannot seem to stay out of trouble. Of course things do not always go well and Babar has to accept that there will be bad days as well as good ones.
In this beautifully illustrated picture book Jean de Brunhoff not only tells us lots of stories about Babar and his friends, but he also creates a whole elephant world to explore.
