The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant

Originally published in 1931 as Histoire de Babar, le petite éléphant, this classic children's picture-book, the first of a number of titles to chronicle the adventures of its eponymous elephantine hero, has sparked quite a bit of debate in the field of children's literature. Condemned by some as a colonialist fantasy - most notably, see Herbert R. Kohl's Should We Burn Babar?: Essays on Children's Literature and the Power of Stories - and defended by others as a comic parody of that fantasy - see Adam Gopnik's essay, Freeing the Elephants: What Babar Brought, published in The New Yorker magazine - it seems to excite quite a bit of commentary from adult readers. Whether child readers perceive these themes, or are harmed by them, is show more another question altogether.

Although not one of my great favorites as a girl, I do vaguely recall reading the Babar books when young, and while I can't remember any of the specifics regarding my reaction to them - clearly, as my friends and family can attest, they didn't turn me into an apologist for colonialism - I liked them well enough. Rereading this as an adult, I was struck by how very un-sweet this supposedly sweet tale is, and I'm not thinking of the colonialist themes alone. From Babar's mother being shot in front of his eyes, to the former elephant king dropping dead (in a shriveled green heap!) after eating a poisoned mushroom, there's plenty here that might be considered traumatic. Oddly enough, I don't remember any of that from my childhood reading either, which suggests that my younger self was focused more on the adventure as a whole, rather than on specific incidents. Or perhaps that I was just less bothered by the traumatic than I am currently?

In any case, in answer to the question of whether we should we burn Babar - no, obviously not. Nor should we ban him, or try to dissuade others from reading him. The book is certainly a little dated, and it reflects the colonial reality of its day, but I'm undecided as to whether it praises and/or defends that reality, rather than just referencing it, the way so many stories reference the zeitgeist of their time, and am uncomfortable with the notion of condemning it, when the reasons for doing so are not clear to me. I suppose if I felt more strongly about the story itself - unlike the artwork, which I find charming, I am largely indifferent to the narrative - I would find it easier to decide. show less

I read this a long time ago as a kid, and personally I don't think it has aged that well. It's not a bad book, mind you, but thinking back, and looking at this book through a 21st-century perspective, it can be questionable. I'm not saying to not give this book to kids, but definitely talk with them about it. The one illustration I remember most after all these years is a dead elephant, so that should tell you how dark this can be for a kids' book.

Odd little childrens book. A minor quibble, elephants live in a matriarchy, so not only is this not educational its actively uneducational :P .
I'm sure there must be some other versions of this book but the one i read had hand-written text!, and in cursive! Even i had issues deciphering a word here or there but i can only imagine the horror on a child's face if they were handed this :lol. And their growing horror if they actually managed to figure out what it says ;) .

There are several dark moments in this which are not well dealt with to say the least. Also Babar is elected King rather than inheriting it, which seems a nice change... until you find out why he in particular is elected. Part of me wants to think it's a biting satire on show more elections but i suspect not :lol.

The art's still nice though :) . show less

When a hunter kills his mother, the little elephant Babar is so frightened that he runs away and ends up in a big city. He buys himself some nice clothes and accepts a nice Old Lady’s invitation to live at her house. Time passes, and then Babar has an unexpected meeting with his elephant cousins, who have run away. When their mothers come to fetch them, Babar decides to return to the forest with them, where he will become the king of the elephants.

The story and the lovely illustrations have enchanted generations of children. It doesn’t appeal so much to this adult. There doesn’t seem to be much substance to the story, although I might feel differently about it if I had fond childhood memories of reading it. Also, I don’t like show more stories where animals die. show less

This books made me feel physically ill. This book symbolized to me every empirical society that enslaves another with their value system and how those enslaved put on the chains willingly. It is a great book to use as a historical connections. The one that immediately came to me was the Brahmaṇ and how many of them sold their souls to their colonizers for personals gains.

A book I quite liked as a kid, but it's becoming very dated, and it does not handle death or the matriarchy of elephants well at all. The older this book gets, the more it becomes one of those tucked away hidden from sight books that might just need to become a memory, certainly not for reading to kids at bed time, you'll be explaining some fairly mature topics with them until they get tired, if you try.

THE STORY OF BABAR, written in 1933, is a classic children’s book. It is about a small elephant named Babar who runs away to the city because he gets scared when his mother is killed by a hunter. When he goes to the city, a very rich Old Lady takes him in. She buys him new clothes and lets him live at her house. In fact, “she gives him whatever she wants.” (De Brunhoff, 21) Babar takes lessons from a professor and socializes with the Old Lady and her friends. Two years go by and Babar is missing the jungle just as he sees his cousins, Arthur and Celeste running towards him in the city! Babar buys them new clothes and food from the city, but eventually their mothers come looking for Arthur and Celeste to take them back to the show more jungle. Babar goes back with them, taking them in his car. On the day they arrive, the King of the elephants has eaten a bad mushroom and died, and since Babar is now educated because he went to the city, the elephants decide to make him the new king. Babar also announces that he and Celeste are going to be married! The book ends with the two cousins being wed and heading off to their honeymoon. This is a classic book that is well known to many readers, but there are underlying messages in the story that aren’t commonly seen by young children. The ideas of colonialism are presented when Babar leaves the jungle, buys clothes, starts walking upright, gets an education, and starts acting more civilized. This is essentially what had happened in history when slaves were taken from Africa. The book also poses another problem: incest. Babar and Celeste are cousins and they marry. Although THE STORY OF BABAR shows these issues, many young children wouldn’t understand or notice them. That being said, I still don’t think I would ever use this book in an elementary classroom, as it has no educational value or message, other than it is good to be rich, civilized, and educated. show less