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A review by amslersf
The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff
1.0
I'm not planning to add children's books to my page, but this one really took my breath away as I read it to my one year old one night.
First of all, Babar's mother is shot on like page two. There she is lying dead with the gloating hunter holding his rifle. Yikes! Little orphan Babar meekly watches on, barely a tear in his elephant eye.
However, this isn't enough to warrant a review. It's what comes next. Babar's story then unfolds as some bizarre French colonial wish fulfillment. Babar, following his mother's murder at the hands of white hunters, blithely follows their path back to the white city. There, he falls into the trusteeship of a sweet grandmotherly lady who helps him get settled into the city. Without his own mother, Babar is a child of the colonial city, happily learning to dress the dandy and eat french pastries.
With the benefits of his education in a civilized country- thank god he's finally wearing clothes over the wrinkled, sagging, gray elephant skin- Babar returns to the land of his people where, due to his fine duds and worldly ways, is immediately declared king of the naked Afri- I mean- elephants.
Babar returns home, more French than the French, and ready to lead his people on the path to civilization. Thank God, those hunters killed his mother!
First of all, Babar's mother is shot on like page two. There she is lying dead with the gloating hunter holding his rifle. Yikes! Little orphan Babar meekly watches on, barely a tear in his elephant eye.
However, this isn't enough to warrant a review. It's what comes next. Babar's story then unfolds as some bizarre French colonial wish fulfillment. Babar, following his mother's murder at the hands of white hunters, blithely follows their path back to the white city. There, he falls into the trusteeship of a sweet grandmotherly lady who helps him get settled into the city. Without his own mother, Babar is a child of the colonial city, happily learning to dress the dandy and eat french pastries.
With the benefits of his education in a civilized country- thank god he's finally wearing clothes over the wrinkled, sagging, gray elephant skin- Babar returns to the land of his people where, due to his fine duds and worldly ways, is immediately declared king of the naked Afri- I mean- elephants.
Babar returns home, more French than the French, and ready to lead his people on the path to civilization. Thank God, those hunters killed his mother!