Brunhoff, Jean De

Related Category: French Literature: Biographies

(zhäN də brü´nôf), 1899–1937, French author and illustrator of children's books, b. Paris. He wrote and illustrated The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant (1932), the tale of a kind, gentle, elegantly attired elephant king in the Edwardian mold. Babar, in fear for himself and his family, flees the jungle and comes to live in Paris. The book was a great success, becoming a children's classic, and de Brunhoff followed it with The Travels of Babar (1934) and a number of other charmingly illustrated books. His son, Laurent de Brunhoff(lôräN´), 1925–, has continued the Babar series.