How does an elephant become king of all elephants? Find out in the biography, The Story of Babar the Little Elephant. Although the pages have a full paragraph each, the sentences are short and simple for new readers. The sentences clearly describe each picture, which are in full color and have fun cartoon drawings. The story itself, however, covers a large part of Babar's life, including two deaths, which is a less common issue covered in a children's book, but important nonetheless.

There is humor in the story that your child will understand and enjoy, like when Babar enjoys riding the elevator up and down until he's asked to get off, or the extremely wrinkly old elephants who has to decide who the next king is. There are many lessons in this story that you can later discuss with your child, but primarily it is the idea of 'home'.

My five-year-old friend Nick said he understood how Babar felt when he was sad and cried thinking about his mom. Nick told me how he tried to spend the night as his friend's house recently, but missed his mom so bad that he cried and had to go home. Nick said he's not ready to spend the night somewhere else yet, but maybe when he's big he'll be like Babar and will travel too.

--Audra