Curious George

Rating:
Summary: Contrary to status, this is nothing special
Review: This is a story about a monkey named Curious George who gets himself captured when he investigates a yellow hat sitting on the ground. The Man in the Yellow Hat takes him away from his jungle, and George gets himself into trouble during his travels to a Spanish zoo. He falls overboard on a ship, accidentally phones the fire department from the Man in the Yellow Hats' home, and is thrown into prison. He eventually escapes from prison and finds the Man in the Yellow Hat, who takes him to the zoo, where he is supposedly very happy.

When I was a boy, my interest in these books was not that strong. The plot is fairly entertaining, and the pictures are very well done, but there's not much to set it apart from other books that have been published in the following decades. I think that the books might be so popular more because they were a pioneer in the field than because they possess any particular intrinsic charm.

In my mind, other books in this series are better written, and reading the plot of this one leaves me a little cold now. George is basically kidnapped from his jungle home, and thrown in prison. The motivations of the Man in the Yellow Hat aren't stated, and I'm not sure why he felt the need to transport George to the zoo, unless there was a profit motive. Also, Rey passes up a chance to educate an American audience about Spain; while the pictures have some European flourishes, the average American child will assume that George is, in fact, in the US.

This is not a bad book, but there are other books out there that do a better job of informing, entertaining, and providing a good example for, children. If, for reasons of sentimentality or tradition, you don't feel right about depriving your child of this cultural icon, I would get a different book in the series.


Rating:
Summary: One of My Favorite Books When I Was A Child!
Review: When I was a child in the 1970's I loved The Curious George books by H.A. Rey and this is the very first book in the series and it is a very entertaining book about an adorable monkey named George who's curiosity gets him into all sorts of adventures and trouble. I checked this book out all the time from the public library and from the bookmobile that used to come to my school and I was very happy when I was finaly given my own copy to keep and I very highly recommend this cute book and all the rest of the books in The Curious George series!