Babar And Zephir (The Babar Books) Read Free Books and Download eBooks
In the most fantastical of the classic Babar stories, we follow Zephir, Babar’s monkey friend, home on school holiday. The monkey princess, Isabelle, has been kidnapped by the horned monster Polomoche, and everyone is very worried. But Zephir, with the help of a tiny mermaid named Eleanore, is certain that he can save the princess himself.
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 24, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0394805798
ISBN-13: 978-0394805795
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.4 x 11.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #317,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #166 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Elephants
Age Range: 3 - 7 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 2
Page aften page of strange and curious imaginary creatures, mermaids and monkeys! A delightful book.Zephir embarks from the elephant school, off on his summer vacation. He arrives home at Monkeyville, which is filled with wonderful little houses and shops that hang from the gigantic trees, and off he and his family go to their holiday house, where the first thing that his mother does is prepare a "good soup of bananas and chocolate" (!).The next day a tremendous package arrives at the post office from Babar. It is a rowboat for Zephir! On a daredevil fishing trip (for monkeys generally do not like the water), Zephir accidentally catches Eleonore, a lovely little mermaid, instead of fish! Sadly he releases her, but she has promised to come to his aid if he ever needs her. Upon his arrival back on shore he is greeted with the horrible news that little Princess Isabelle has been kidnapped in a green cloud smelling of rotten apples! Zephir calls on Eleonore, and she takes him in her fish carriage to her Aunt Crustadele.Aunt Crustadele believes the culprit can only be Polomoche, who lives on an island with his gang of Gogottes (a very strange assortment of creatures!). "They... are not savage. But they are bored," she says. She sends Zephir off on his quest, telling him he will recognize Polomoche by his pointed horns and yellow skin.What an adventure! One thing is for sure... any child reading this book will not have a chance to be bored!
This book's been out of print for awhile, which strikes me as strange. Anyhow, out of the classic Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff, this one is probably the "least" among them. It's a great read, and the artwork is delightful, but I did feel a little tricked by the title. The book's called "Babar and Zephir," but Babar's only shown on the first page, and even then, it's just his back! The book's all about Zephir and a crazy adventure he goes on, so it really should have just been called "Zephir" or something. I read a review which commented that this was the strangest of all the Babar books, and I agree. It certainly has the most fantastical storyline, involving Mermaids, strange creatures that will turn you into a rock unless you make them laugh, etc. Zephir's funny, and the story's very cute. It's not the best book in the Babar series, but it deserves to be in print and read. It should be available in the "Bonjour Babar!" collection, if you can't find the individual copy used. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and it was a nice little detour in the series.
Though not really a "Babar" book, as Babar only makes a brief appearance at the beginning of the book, it is a wonderful addition to the Babar series. These were my favorite books as a child, but I never read this particular book until I got it recently for my own children, 4 & 2. I must say, as a child it always bothered me that there was no "back story" to Zephir. He makes his first appearance as just a monkey that is given as a gift to the Old Lady, then all of the sudden he is Zephir the clever little monkey. This book definitely gives him his own world to inhabit, and he is indeed a clever little monkey! My kids love it.
My children ( 3 and 5) and I love this book. As other reviewers have noted, Babar makes only the briefest of appearances-- to wave goodbye to Zephir as he boards the train home for school vacations. And, yes, this story stands out as particularly fantastical for the reasons others have mentioned- mermaids, a sea witch, and the strange creature, Polomoche, with his rotting apple-scented magical cloud. But we don't mind Babar's absence and zephir's story is plenty intriguing. Additionally, the illustrations seem to me to be some of DeBrunhoff's most enchanting: we especially like the whole page spread of Monkeyville perched up in the leafy trees and consisting of hanging cottages as well as a restaurant and a salon on platforms.This book is as old as all of the other original Babar books and I once again found myself slightly startled at a particularly dated part. in this case it was where General Huc gives his daughter to Zephir as a reward for his Heroism. For a while I left this part out. But recently I have started reading it and including my own quick commentary.
This is a weird story. The characters are out there so I guess it is pretty different from a lot of what we have. My daughter enjoys the mermaid who helps out and I love the beautiful illustrations.
One of my grandchildren's favorite Barbar books. Although used, book was in excellent condition.
Great memories
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