Babar

Babar is about an elephant who, after his mother is killed by a hunter, leaves the jungle and enters the city, where he learns about civilisation. He returns to the jungle, wiser, and becomes the king of the elephant kingdom. This book has been heavily criticised for attempting to justify colonialism. The writer Adam Gopnik, in his article Freeing the Elephants, thinks that the book is more about the lure of organised civilisation, and the safety and easiness of it, is something that elephants can feel too – “"while it is a very good thing to be an elephant, still, the life of an elephant is dangerous, wild, and painful. It is therefore a safer thing to be an elephant in a house near a park.""