Children's book: The Story of Babar

Overview

Jean de Brunhoff’s 1931 picture book The Story of Babar introduces the iconic elephant who bridges the jungle and the city, childhood and adulthood. Told in a calm, conversational voice and illustrated with airy watercolors, the book blends adventure, grief, and gentle humor to follow a young elephant’s transformation into a poised, worldly figure. It inaugurated a long-running series and established the visual language, clean lines, pale washes, elegant typography, that would become synonymous with Babar’s world.

Plot Summary

Babar begins life happily in the forest until a hunter kills his mother, a shocking rupture rendered with disarming simplicity. Traumatized, the calf runs for days until he wanders into a city. There he meets a kind Old Lady who takes him in, outfits him at a department store, and gives him stability, affection, and lessons in human ways. He learns to dress smartly in a green suit, drives a car, attends to manners and hygiene, and discovers city pleasures such as pastry shops, parks, and grand boulevards. His urban education is brisk and playful, presented as a child’s-eye montage of novelties rather than a strict curriculum.

Back in the forest, Babar’s young cousins Arthur and Celeste set out to find him; they arrive in the city, delighting in its treats until their mothers appear, worried and stern. The reunion prompts a return to the forest, with Babar bringing his car and city savvy. Upon their arrival, calamity has struck: the elephant king has died after eating a poisonous mushroom. Faced with a sudden vacancy, the elephants choose Babar as their new leader, convinced that his knowledge of the city will benefit the herd. Babar accepts and immediately marries Celeste, blending personal happiness with public duty. The book culminates in a jubilant wedding and coronation parade where jungle and city mingle, elephants crowned and garlanded, human friends attending, fireworks brightening the night. The final pages send the newlyweds off on their honeymoon in a smart automobile, a horizon of future plans implied rather than spelled out.

Themes and Tone

The narrative moves from loss to belonging, using Babar’s journey to model resilience and adaptability for young readers. The city represents learning, comfort, and self-fashioning, while the forest embodies origins, community, and tradition; leadership, in Babar’s case, requires balancing both. Embedded in the gentle tone is a subtle social fable about manners, education, and the appeal of modern conveniences. The book has also prompted debate over its echoes of assimilation and colonial-era values: an animal adopts the dress and customs of a metropolitan center, then returns to modernize his people. Yet the presentation remains intimate and child-focused, emphasizing kindness, curiosity, and the solace of caregiving after trauma.

Illustrations and Style

De Brunhoff’s watercolor spreads carry much of the storytelling, with spare caption-like text set among images. The palette is soft but precise, Parisian grays and creams contrasted with tropical greens, while the compositions balance whimsy and elegance. Visual jokes, like Babar trying on shoes for his enormous feet, lighten the more somber beats, and the steady authorial voice guides readers as if turning pages alongside them. The understated design invites children to linger over details, learning the story through looking as much as through reading.

Legacy

The Story of Babar established a mythic origin for a character who would become a global figure. Its blend of tenderness and sophistication, sorrow and celebration, continues to resonate, making Babar’s ascent from orphan to king both a fairy tale of self-making and a picture-book meditation on how new worlds are learned and shared.