nPostednon December 6, 2014
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Babarnthe Elephant was a family creation.
Babarnthe Elephant was a family creation.n
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nAndntoday’s famous birthday, Jean de Brunhoff, was the father of thatnfamily.
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Oncenupon a time, a French artist named Jean married a pianist namednCecile. They had two little boys, Mathieu and Laurent. And one daynMathieu was sick and uncomfortable. His mommy did what so many othernmommies have done, over the years: she distracted him from his miserynby telling a story.
Oncenupon a time, a French artist named Jean married a pianist namednCecile. They had two little boys, Mathieu and Laurent. And one daynMathieu was sick and uncomfortable. His mommy did what so many othernmommies have done, over the years: she distracted him from his miserynby telling a story.n
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nInnCecile’s story, a little elephant named Babar left the jungle andntraveled to a city. The two boys loved their mother’s story so muchnthat they asked their father to paint pictures of Babar and the otherncharacters. And soon the first Babar picture book, The Story ofnBabar, was written and illustrated.
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Now,nit just so happened that the de Brunhoff family ran a publishingnbusiness. The plan was to publish the picture book with the wordsn“told by Jean and Cecile de Brunhoff,” but Cecile insisted thatnher name be taken off. Many people know that she created the premisenand characters (at least) of the story, and they sometimes refer tonboy Jean and Cecile as the authors, but the actual book has beennattributed to only Jean (again, at her request).
Now,nit just so happened that the de Brunhoff family ran a publishingnbusiness. The plan was to publish the picture book with the wordsn“told by Jean and Cecile de Brunhoff,” but Cecile insisted thatnher name be taken off. Many people know that she created the premisenand characters (at least) of the story, and they sometimes refer tonboy Jean and Cecile as the authors, but the actual book has beennattributed to only Jean (again, at her request).n
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nJeannde Brunhoff (born on this date in 1899) wrote and illustrated sixnmore Babar books, but he died from tuberculosis when he was just 37nyears old! What a shame!
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nStill,nthe Babar books went on. How did that happen?
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Jean’snbrother Michel de Brunhoff oversaw the publishing of Jean’s last twonbooks, which had only been illustrated in black and white. Michelnarranged for artists to color the illustrations with paint, and henhad Laurent (Jean’s older son) do some of the painting.
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nAt thatnpoint, Laurent was 13 years old.
Jean’snbrother Michel de Brunhoff oversaw the publishing of Jean’s last twonbooks, which had only been illustrated in black and white. Michelnarranged for artists to color the illustrations with paint, and henhad Laurent (Jean’s older son) do some of the painting. n
nAt thatnpoint, Laurent was 13 years old.
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nAnothernpublishing house soon bought the rights to the Babar books andnreprinted all seven of them. Millions of copies were sold all aroundnthe world.
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WorldnWar II happened, and it interrupted many things – including innFrance, which was occupied by Nazi forces for four years. So it isnnot, perhaps, so very surprising that when a new Babar book came outnafter the war, most readers thought that the six-year gap betweennbooks was due to the war! (Many readers didn’t notice that the first name of the author was different, and they were unaware of Jean’s untimely death.)
WorldnWar II happened, and it interrupted many things – including innFrance, which was occupied by Nazi forces for four years. So it isnnot, perhaps, so very surprising that when a new Babar book came outnafter the war, most readers thought that the six-year gap betweennbooks was due to the war! (Many readers didn’t notice that the first name of the author was different, and they were unaware of Jean’s untimely death.)n
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nThe real reason for the 6-year gap was that Laurent was busy growing up. As a young adult, he ended up adopting his father’s style of painting elephants and writing more Babar books. He said that it was a way of keepingnthe memories of his father and of his own childhood alive!
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| Laurent is an old man now. |
nCelebrate!
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nToncelebrate Jean de Brunhoff, read Babar books, explore thencrafts and other activities at Babar-dot-com, have fun withnBabar’s Painting Game and Picnic Game, and check out the Disney Junior Babar games.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nFinland’snIndependence Day
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nFinland’snIndependence Day
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nSt.nNicholas Day
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nSt.nNicholas Day
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nAnniversarynof the completion of the Washington Monument
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nAnniversarynof the completion of the Washington Monument
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nPlannahead:
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nDecembern birthdays
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- Historicaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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