Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Babar visits another planet
Picture Book Series
For ages 5 to 8
Abrams, 2003 ISBN: 978-0810942448
One day, while Babar and his family are out on a picnic, they see a rocket ship coming in to land not far from them. The ship lands, a big door opens, and then before anyone has a chance to say or do much of anything, all the elephants and Zephir the monkey are sucked into the rocket ship which then blasts off into space.
Babar and his party are perfectly comfortable on the unmanned space ship but they are worried for they have no idea where they are being taken. At last the ship lands on a reddish planet. Soon the inhabitants of the planet arrive. They are odd looking creatures which bear a slight resemblance to elephants and they take Babar and the others to their floating city.
Babar is treated with great kindness and it isn’t long before he can understand the strange language that his hosts speak. He politely but firmly explains to the creatures that it really is not right to take people away from their home without talking to them about it first but he does not hold it against them. Soon everyone is having a wonderful time getting to know the elephant like creatures and exploring the fascinating alien world that they have been brought to.
This is certainly the strangest adventure that Babar ever has, and it is one that he is not likely to forget. Readers will love the peculiar floating city that the elephant creatures live on, and will no doubt wish that they too could take such a fascinating journey to a distant planet far far away.
