Babar and Zephir

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.

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!