Little Golden Book's Bambi
Written: May 02 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Death scene is not graphic, wonderful illustrations
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: This story brings up many opportunities for discussion, death, friendship, family, fire safety, hunting, and more.
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| elzora's Full Review: Rh Disney - Bambi |
After doing daycare for 25 years, some of my children's books were literally falling apart. When a used book store came to our area, I started getting rid of the old books and replenishing with ones in better condition. They have an entire section of Little Golden Books which sell for $1.00, and I can pay half with the credit I receive from bringing in my unwanted books. That makes these books only 50 cents, so I have been stocking up.
I had forgotten that my daughter owned Bambi, until one of my daycare children read it out loud yesterday. He has to read 20 minutes every day for his homework, and these books are perfect because he can read one in about 10 minutes. Boy did this bring back some fond memories!
The Story
This Little Golden Book story, which is only 23 pages long, is a nice shortened version of Walt Disney's movie Bambi.
The story starts out with Bambi's birth, and all of the forest animals come to welcome him to the forest glade. They already recognize him as a young prince.
Each day Bambi played with his furry friends, the opossums, squirrels, robins, wrens, and of course Flower the skunk and Thumper the rabbit. Then one day Bambi meets a new fawn, Faline - who's mother is Bambi's Aunt Edna, and they become fast friends.
Soon Bambi is introduced to danger, something that is mother recognized as inevitable. MAN was in the forest, and all the animals had to run for cover. Bambi's mother explains to him that Man brings danger with his "long sticks that roar and spurt flames".
Spring passes and winter arrives, and Thumper tells Bambi to walk onto the frozen pond, because the water is stiff, but when Bambi tries, he slips and slides all over the slippery ice. Winter is long and hard for the animals, but eventually the grass is starting to appear and spring is on it's way again.
The next time they smell Man, Bambi ends up in the thicket all alone, and we all know the story, Man has killed his mother. The Prince of the Forest explains to Bambi that he is now on his own, but Bambi isn't alone, he meets Faline again but this time she is all grown up (like himself). Bambi has to fight off Ronno for her affections, and wins.
One morning Bambi smells fire, Man is back again, but his campfires have caught the forest ablaze. The animals make their way safely to the other side of the forest, and when spring comes again, the grass and flowers start to cover the scars left from the fire. And there is another renewal as well, Faline has given birth to two fawns, and Bambi is now the new Prince of the Forest.
Thoughts
This story is all about the circle of life. Not only do we see Bambi live through two Springs, but we also see the life cycle when Bambi's mother and the old Prince of the Forest die. Bambi grows up to take his place, and he has his own little fawns to care for, just as his mother cared for him.
I asked my kids about their thoughts on this story after it was read aloud, and one said that Bambi had to make friends with the other animals because his mother was killed and he was lonely. Another said that he was sad that Man killed his mother and started a fire in the forest. That brought up the discussion of a fire we had here in Alaska a few years ago that was started by a teenager playing with fireworks - many homes were destroyed, and it was a good way to talk about fire safety.
All of the kids were sad that Bambi's mother died, but the book doesn't dwell on it like the movie version does. I remember watching the movie years ago with my daughter and being on the verge of tears during that scene!
You can even discuss how kids should respect their elders, as the Prince of the Forest was an old stag, but he was very much respected and revered by all the forest animals.
Bambi is taught to listen and smell for dangers in the forest, and I'm sure will pass these skills on to his own little ones. As far as the subject of hunting animals goes, this can be traumatic for some children, so I'm glad we don't see any illustrations of Bambi's mom getting shot and killed. We really see life from an animal's point of view ... from how hard it is to find food in the winter, to the realities of life when Man enters the picture.
The original Bambi story was written in 1929 by Felix Salten, from which the Disney movie was adapted. Some feel this Little Golden Book is the "dumbed down" version, but I think it gets the message across without being too graphic and overwhelming for children.
The illustrations are wonderful, making the animals seem real. Each page has almost a full color picture, with text above and below, but the sentences are very short. My 8 year old read this without any problems, but some larger words like "terrified" and "struggled" might be hard for younger readers.
This was published in 1984 by Western Publishing Company, Inc. Copyrighted by Walt Disney Productions.
Recommended:
Yes
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