Books like Barbapapa

This is charming and weird but not as weird as the rest of the series. I like when the rest of the Barba family is in play, doing bizarre semi-human things together with their giant shapechanging bodies. So, the early picture of Barbapapa growing in the earth as he's watered like a flower and then popping up to surprise everyone is a real winner. For something this imaginative, I did find it a little generic that he was sent to the zoo at first, but it at least led to some good scenes of him mimicking other animals with his giant gelatinous pink body. My kid liked when he helped the people escape from the burning building, but we're in a real firefighter phase right now. (There's an odd parallel there with the first and also not-as-good-as-the-sequels Curious George book, where George deals with firefighters and the zoo too. Maybe that's what first books did back then?).The sequels, where the Barba family are off having their own bizarre shape-changing adventures are weirder, more interesting, and better. But this is a fine start.And really, the image of him growing in the earth and popping up is fantastic.