Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff, is so wonderful and emotional. I just love it. I was shopping about two months ago and there in a favorite shop of ours was a tiny little hardcover edition.
Hasia had not heard of Babar the King of Elephants and his amazing transformation from journeying with his large family thorugh the jungle on four feet to His becoming King of Elephant land , marrying his childhood sweetheart Celeste and having children, all so dear.
I especially love Babar's interactions and relationship with the Old Woman who teaches him to be genteel , walk on his hind legs, eat and drink properly at tea time, and become very educated and mannerly.
We have the Babar full length movie and the actors are from my country and very very perfect for the parts.
To watch Hasia now , eyes wide with excitement, laughing with the antics of Zaphir the monkey, and shouting at the evil Rataxes, is a joy.
She will hold the tiny book and carefully examine each page for what seems an eternity, especially themaps, and she will be lost to me for a full half hour.
I really recommend the Babar books.

I used to read it to my sister when she was younger

Funny, it's s tory most children don't take to over here. We have it on shelves and in all schools and nurseries, of course we do, but children just don't seem to like it. Multicoloured elephants are out of synch here it seems, in favour of reality stories and disney.

In a way that's a shame, reality sets in soon enough. Childhood should be for imagining.

Oh I totally agree Katherine. I feel so sorry for very young children who are subjected to the wiles of adult hood before they've even felt what it's like to just be a child.

I worry a lot about what the literature societies think makes good reading for babies and children under 12. Books about action men killing each other, books about reality of being a poor child in Africa with real photo's to add to the harshness of it all and books about barbie going for an 'implant' to me bear no resemblence to what belongs in a childs library or immaginations.

to be a child, to not worry, to play with full immaginations encourraged and let loose to fly. To learn and wonder and what lies around them in nature - even if that does mean playing with bugs of all descriptions. Getting dirty and not being told off for it. Knowing what it feels like to play all day, have a really good meal, a warm bath and cuddles galore surrounded by love and understanding before falling asleep in a snuggly bed with their favourite toy is what every child should have.

To me, there's nothing better than cuddling your baby/child and reading a story to them and later with them as they slowly learn new words for themselves. A make believe story, in a world where nothing bad ever happens and all stories end happily.

There's plenty of time for reality, childhood is so very brief, and as the long and harsh responibilities of adulthood loom over them they cope so much better for having that 'special time' - in my opinion anyway

The sad reality is though that as a school librarian too, I had to make hard and tough decisions and fight hard with the governing body about which books we stocked. Teachers these days seem to think arming young children with as much reality as young as possible makes for a more capable and accepting adult. Able to cope with the harshness of reality.
Truth is......They don't. They don't cope at all. Alcoholism, drugs, abuse and abusing are all very prevelent in todays young societies.
Asking ourselves WHY, wouldn't harm would it?

you were a school librarian, how totally awesome. Since my toddler hood I always thought librarians were the apex of every good thing.
I would hate to be the one that had to make the tough choices though.
That is totally sad about Babar over there. I would have thought your little ones would have taken to it even more. Because it deals with loss, he became an orphan. It highlights the struggle between those who hunt to feed their families and those who wantonly hunt for the thrill of seeing a living creature, in this case a noble creature, die.
And it shows what can be done with a little courage and insight.
Also how the Old woman, Madame, becomes a surrogate mama for Babar.
And of course the great love affair of Babar and Celeste and their love for their children.
The thing Hasia loved was that a little elephant king could muster his people to overthrow a wicked despot like rataxes while not losing genteel habits and habits like story telling and reading.
How very very sad.
But you have The world of Peter Rabbit, which by todays standards is quite far out there, especially the story of Pigling Bland and his brother who require licenses to go to market. And we love love love Beatrix Potter here. We have the collection on DVD and watch it a great deal. And Kipper the Dog, Angelinea Ballerina etc.
Here, well I can only speak for my area and those I have travelled to, the children are infatuated with characters so much they think they are real. That can be hard when they get older but oh well..

Which story was that Jakki about Barbie getting implants. I admit I never heard of Mattel ever writing or producing a movie about that.
I thought we had all her stuff and the Barbie movies especially always deal with doing what is right no matter what, about the value of each person . Each story has a saying to help children.
In the twelve dancing princesses for example, the smallest of triplets Lacey makes mistakes a lot.
Her sister Genevieve, whom Barbie is portraying tells her that their deceased mother the Queen who Lacey doesn't really remember always taught the girls :"There is always something that only you can do.'
It teaches children never to give up.
The idea that they are perfect in body is very very ancient. I believe that since God created a perfect Adam and Eve, there is in all of us, a tiny fire that burns for us to be so as well. And by having someone perfect who doesn't let it go to her head, but who is always kind and giving, who is charitable and forgiving, it fills something in a girl's heart.

I just read the other day an article that said seven hundred women of all shapes and sizes and ages were asked what or who influenced them the most concerning their bodies.

They said primarily it was what their mothers thought about their daughters shape or their own that influenced them.
Not one mentioned Barbie.
The author went on to say that was because, she too, a Barbie devotee, always knew as a child Barbie was not real.
"I mean I could, and often did, take off her arms and legs" the woman wrote.

What you say about the implants is upsetting to me and I would stop Hasia playing with her or watching her DVD's or reading her books if that is so.

The only book she has of Barbie deals with Barbie's parents being in danger of losing their home and property due to not being able to afford the taxes.
Barbie tries out for a part as a cowgirl in a movie and gives her parents the money afterwards. And then there is a celebration.
So, if you are not too busy one day Jakki, could you remember to tell me where you read that.

Trust me to miss something, and I was so careful to do research.

Hasia thinks, by the way, from your picture Jakki, that YOU would make a wonderful doll.
We talk about hings like that, don't know why exactly except that we all draw here and especially portraits.

A Jakki doll, sounds adorable, don't you think, Can't beat those eyes, that complexion and that hair. I was amazed the first time I got to see you.
I always thought the name you went by at the other site was perfect for you.

I recall the fairy tales my mother read to me, and then things like The Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, Cinderella...oh Puss 'n Boots was a favorite of mine too. Grimm Fairy Tales...Rapunzel...loved all of that.
And while things like Little Black Sambo may have fallen out of "politically correct" fashion nowadays, I loved it back when I was a child.

I didn't play with dolls much, didn't see much sense in it as a child. I had some, including a Barbie doll, just didn't like it. I preferred reading, or riding my bike or swinging on the swings. And of course my family of teddy bears. Those I loved.

Rachel, Barbie has had 'a bit of work' done many times over the years. Her breasts have increased, her waist decreased but her hips remain the same as they did almost 50 years ago.
There is a book, to which I was referring to which I cannot recall the title of ( but is very easily researched on the web ) which deals with young children's mother's getting plastic implants. They use the barbie doll as a reference for this inside the book. " Mommy wants to look like Barbie" etc., There have been many calls for it to be removed off the market, but so far without success - here in the UK anyway.

I remember the Hull Lending Library giving me a list of available books to borrow for a term at school, many of which I rejected, this one was one of them.

when you have very young little girls coming to you and asking "Miss, what's an implant?" and when you tell them they then look down at their own very imature bodies and begin to worry they are not normal you realize just how wrong and how much damage this book can do. Which is why I refused to stock it. Whether it is in the school library now or not I cannot say, I have no control over that until one day I return.

Did you know what Mattel have planned for Barbie this year?

How does Nipple studs, and tattoo's grab you? Barbie will even come complete with tattoo gun!


To me this is going waaaay too far and well beyond anything a child naturally dreams of in 'playland' with their innocent basic dolls.

Maybe they are intended for the more adult collectors of Barbie dolls, but needless to say when a doll is on the free market it will inevitable get into children's hands. What that will do to their own body images heaven above knows. Not to mention actual planting to tattoo's in a child's mind as being a beautiful thing to do!

It scares me to think where it will all end and just what responibility Mattel have towards children.

Barbie and tattoo's

Check out the above link. From what I've heard it's due out around this coming Christmas if not before.

As I child, I loved - no, adored, nothing better than my tin of pretty beads and a bit of string, my European story book and fairy tales at bedtime or early on a Sunday Morning. Mom never read to me, but I learned very early - by the age of 4, so looking at the pictures, using immagination and reading the words I could manage was perfect!
A child naturally has a very active immagination, and to me, that should always be encourraged, never hindered, and never pushed aside even as they grow up.

I remember quite clearly using stips of paper to make skirts for my dolls and paper tops that I would spend hours colouring in and designing before siticking it on my doll with tape.

Katherine, 'Little Black Sambo' is one I remember too! I couldn't care less about political correctness, my daughter was allowed full access to all books 'correct' or not. She has grown to be a very respectful, non racist and accpting young lady, so all I can say to 'political correctness' is BAH HUMBUG! complete and utter rubbish.
Whilst I am NOT in favour of anyone calling anyone derogatory names in any form of nasty way, black people all over the world MUST accept the part they play in racism too.
How many times to they call white's? or yellowed skin people? They give just as much as they get. It's the way of the world. IOt'll always happen whether it's behind closed doors or out on the street. It goes on, we all know it goes on so people should just accept there's give and take on both sides. Stop all this over the top shock horror tactics and let people AND children be.

Let children be free to discover WHO they are, WHO other's are and what they can become. Differences are always apparent, and I for one encourrage questioning. How is a child supposed to learn if it's afraid to ask?

I once asked why my friends hands where pinker on the inside palm gthan they were on the backs! If I hadn't have asked that question, I would never heave learned the right answer and how skin melatonin works on different parts of the body. My friend certainly wasn't offended by my question, and he too learned a lot about how and why white skin is the way it is too.

Questions should always be asked otherwise ignorance is bred.

And that sums it up nicely!

That is the most important thing, asking questions...WHY is such and such that way? HOW did it get that way? If we understand those things about the world, and each other, it'd be a lot nicer world. I always have to suspect tho motives of those that quash questioning. Authority is fine, but not over people's minds and hearts. We have to have laws to survive and thrive, but God created us as questioning beings for a reason. We have to find out for ourselves, have to reason out the whys and wherefores of our surroundings to understand why. Why.

Sorry Rachel, I failed to mention this earlier.

Whilst I'm rather bad at taking flatery - from anyone really. I just son't seem to know what to do with it I will take it in the nicest way possible and thank you for those kind words. I take it you mean 'Angelhair'? That was a name given to me by a four year old child in the nursery. She was fascinated with my hair and kept stroking it saying it was like the angels's hair. It's a name that kind of stuck for quite a few years after that
After that, for an R.E.M forum I became 'Wing of an angel' In one of Michael Stipe's video's he has a pair of angel wings behind him. That's where that name came from, and the one I have now is made up of two parts. I am initially very much an 'indie' girl mixed with a fair bit of hippy. So the Indigo came from that and the 'Jo' bit came from the name of a past friend. She was my best friend at the time until my ex husband hit on her more than once. Ending the friendship was the best thing I could do for her, especially with him still being as violent as he always was.

Those are the only user names I've ever posted under as far as I can remember.