Smurfs #14: The Baby Smurf, The (The Smurfs Graphic Novels, 14) Paperback – March 5, 2013

Great smurfs comic book. So colorful inside.

I buy the Smurfs series for my daughter.We started collecting this series when she was eight, and a slow reader. She never had the interest in books like her older sister. In fact she said she 'did not want to read', that was ' her sister's job'.So we landed on this clever French series, as 'something different'.In the 12 months we have been reading these books, collecting the entire set. We have become smurf - addicts. More importantly Hazel has become a competent reader, and has completed the Harry Potter series and now reads pretty much anything.

"The Baby Smurf" is a comic book adaptation of the cartoon show episode "Once In A Blue Moon", which introduces the character of Baby Smurf into the fold. (The episode of the same title is one that actually has Gargamel impersonating a Baby Smurf, which European distributors have erroneously advertised using Studio Peyo artwork of the real Baby Smurf.) Notable in this story is that Smurfette has become a permanent resident of the Smurf Village as she has been in the cartoon show, whereas previously in the comic books she has lived outside the village and made only sporadic visits. Again like the cartoon episode that it came from, the mystery of where Baby Smurfs come from is never revealed, and interestingly Smurfette gets upset at Brainy's supposition that the child was actually hers. Anyway, the mysterious sender of the child wants Baby Smurf back, and Grouchy, who has become rather fond of the child, refuses to give him back up, running off into the forest with Baby Smurf until he couldn't find anyplace to hide himself and take care of Baby Smurf at the same time. The child is then returned with the stork that carried him, but sometime afterward the mysterious sender brings Baby Smurf back to the village, and every Smurf is pleased to have Baby Smurf among them once again.Following this are two additional stories: "A Smurfing Party", where Gargamel disguises himself as a rabbit and gets invited to a party in the Smurf Village only to be covered in a starch solution, and "The Weather-Smurfing Machine", where Handy builds a machine that controls the weather. The latter story appeared as the cartoon show episode "Foul Weather Smurf".And if you want a glimpse of Peyo's other works, there's a three-page preview of Benny Breakiron (Benoit Brisefer) in "The Red Taxis", which Papercutz will release sometime later this year.Aside from some translation gaffes and the annoying "me, I don't likes" from Grouchy that ruin the spirit of the character, this is a must-read for Smurf fans.

Another excellent Smurf book. Very Funny, Recommend to others to purchase. Good value for money. No complaints about this book or service.

thumbs up

Very smurfy and sentimental

First I was a little disappointed as I did not notice it was a comic book, but my 2-year old loves it. We have been reading 2 books from this collection for about 2 months and she cannot get enough, knows some parts by heart. I am definitely planning to buy more of those. Only one con - sometimes the smurfs are a little misbehaved, hard to explain to such a small kid its not ok that they throw a cake in other smurf's face. Perhaps it's more suitable for older kids.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that all the Smurf books I ordered were comic format. I thought they were storybooks. I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 year old grandchild and these are not appropriate for either of them. My fault for not carefully reading description.

Would recomend to any Smurf fan. Great little stories. My daughter really enjoyed them and I had a read myself.