"If you love elephants, you will love Babar and Celeste,? writes A. A. Milne, author of Winnie-the-Pooh, in his preface to The Story of Babar. "And if you have never loved elephants, you will love them now.?"

THE STORY OF BABAR--the early adventures of the enduring elephant--was written in 1931 by French writer Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937). Since then, it has been translated into at least 12 languages. It's amazing how much can happen to one little elephant in the course of one little book: Babar loses his mother to a hunter, wanders into the city, gets a new wardrobe, becomes the hit of high society, marries his cousin Céleste (totally acceptable in contemporary Elephantine society), and is crowned King of the Elephants. It is essentially the tale of a country boy who comes to the city and, while there, comes of age. In the end, he returns home to share his knowledge and experiences with family and friends. The beautiful, delightfully detailed illustrations--de Brunhoff was a painter by trade--never fail to amuse. For the first time now in a paperback edition.