BABAR LOSES HIS CROWN

This latest episode comes in a new don't-wait-for-mother, read-it-yourself format, and parents who enjoyed Babar as much as their offspring are the first losers; next are the youngsters who absorbed a little piquancy along with the plot. There's not much plot here anyhow-just a quick tour of Paris on the trail of the man with the moustache who picked up the suitcase containing Babar's crown. The views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower, of a traffic Jam at the Etoile; are pleasant, and the elephants are as endearing as ever, but the story too rudimentary for first graders (and the telling too constricted for effective reading aloud). Maybe for early learners to read to their superseded parents?