Barbapapa's New House

I found this book at Goodwill years ago when I was in high school. It was so bizarre that I knew I had to have it. In the store I only flipped through it a bit before deciding to buy it. At home I sat down and gave it a thorough examination. The drawings and story are very, very cute but they are also very, very werid. Apparently the name comes from the French word for cotton candy, and it is easy to see why. This book (and the others as well as the TV series that I later found out about) center on a family of squishy, stretchy creatures called Barbapapas, and the head of that family is, no surprise, Barbapapa himself. The family members come in all colors, but the title character is that classic light pink shade of cotton candy or bubble gum. Alongside him are his wife Barbamama, who is black, and their 7 children. Each child has a special hobby or interest. The family is also accompanied by a pair of human children, as I think is usual for a children's story like this (e.g. Dragon Tales).

Barbapapa's New House tell the story of how the family lived in a tiny house in the country that was getting too small for so many children, forcing them to move into an old house in the city. Unfortunately, evil wrecking machines come and eat the neighborhood. The family packs up again, finds a nice hillside outside of town, and begins building a traditional Barbapapa home out of special cement. It is round and bubble-shaped with a nice room for each of the Barbababies: Barbabeau (art), Barbalala (music), Barbabelle (beauty), Barbabright (science), Barbazoo (animals), Barbalib (reading), and Barbabravo (exercise). They are happy for a time, then the wrecking machines are spotted in the distance, headed their way. The family prepares a series of traps and assault strategies, and win the battle to keep their home.

I don't really have a lot to say about this book other than I think it is really cute. It doesn't really teach any lessons or do any terribly innovative, yet I like having it on the shelf. I am sure there are a lot of kids that would think it was a good time. The only lessons I can see it teaching are that family is important, big families don't have to fight, sometimes families have to move for various reasons, and you can have friends no matter how different you are from them. More than anything, the book was one of those weird finds that made me really happy I went to Goodwill that day.