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“He was a good little monkey and always very curious.” This is how H. A. Rey and his wife, Margret, first introduced their now beloved troublemaker-hero to young readers in 1941. In this hefty 192-page hardcover treasury, Curious George fans will find eight stories based on the popular primate, painted in Rey’s original watercolor and charcoal style: Curious George Takes a Train (2002), Curious George Visits a Toy Store (2002), Curious George and the Dump Truck (1999), Curious George and the Birthday Surprise (2003), Curious George Goes Camping (1999), Curious George Goes to a Costume Party (2001), Curious George Visits the Library (2003), and Curious George in the Big City (2001). A wonderful collection for your own mischievous monkey. For more monkey fun, investigate www.curiousgeorge.com and discover all the latest on Curious George books, promotions, games, activities, and more!
The Reys, like George, had tremendous zest for travel and new experience. Both were born in Germany, H. A. (Hans Augusto) in 1898, and Margret (Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein) in 1906. Although the two became acquainted in their homeland, they fell in love after each moved to Rio de Janeiro, where they married in 1935. Their honeymoon led them to Paris, where Hans published his first book for children, Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys, introducing Curious George as a peripheral character.
In 1940 the Reys, both of whom were Jewish, fled Paris as the Nazis mounted their invasion of the city, making their way by bicycle to Spain, by train to Lisbon, then to Brazil, New York City, and finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they made their home. The few belongings they carried with them from Europe included the manuscript of Curious George, which Houghton Mifflin published in 1941. Together they created six more classic Curious George adventures: Curious George Flies a Kite, Curious George Gets a Medal, Curious George Learns the Alphabet, Curious George Goes to the Hospital, Curious George Rides a Bike, and Curious George Takes a Job.
Like Babar, Bambi, Pippi Longstocking, and countless other children’s book characters, George is, for all purposes, an orphan, one who was separated from his family. (He was kidnapped, in fact, by The Man with the Yellow Hat, who has gained his own degree of fame through the series.) Admonished to stay home and be good, George invariably lets his curiosity get the better of him and winds up in some kind of trouble every time: in jail, on a runaway cow, kidnapped by circus promoters, or in the hospital. In a possible nod to the Reys’s own hair-raising escape from the Nazis, every story involves an antic chase scene. And every story ends in a happy reunion with the man with the yellow hat, who is George’s trainer, keeper, teacher, disciplinarian, and parental figure.
According to their publisher, the Reys were not just a writer/designer team. Although Hans was primarily focused on ideas and illustrations, and Margret on writing, their work often overlapped. The result was pure magic. The Curious George books transcend time and space, driven by a sincere understanding of the forces that propel children: curiosity, resourcefulness, and love of home.
Margret's name does not appear on some of the earlier Curious George collaborations because, she said, "When we first came to America our publisher suggested we use my husband's name because the children's book field was so dominated by women. They thought it would sell better. After a time I thought 'why the devil did I do that?' So since then my name has appeared also."
Mister_K
Posted July 19, 2011
My son is a huge fan of curious George, so I thought having 8 Curious George stories on my Nook Color (NC) would be great for car rides, so we wouldn't have to carry as many books. I was wrong. This book is simply scanned pages from the paper book, which doesn't work well on the NC, because the Curious George books are square and fairly large, so when they are squeezed into the NC's width they are tiny, and leave a huge whitespace at the bottom. On top of that, the method of rendering the pictures is terrible, simply dropping pixels instead of blending them to make a smooth picture. Finally, the whitespace at the bottom is used to reprint the text from the book to be read, but the original text is still partially visible and readable in the original scanned page, which confuses my son and frustrates me. This is a terrible adaptation of a great children's book series, which should be avoided, because it would be unusable even if it was free.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.janecool
Posted September 1, 2011
i should have listened to mister_k. i bought the book despite reading his review and was so disappointed. it was exactly as he described, just a scan of the books. the quality of the scans are bad and aren't at the right aspect ratio for the nook. such a waste of my money. if you're looking for good kids nookbooks, the dr seuss ones are much better.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 10, 2013
He sucks his dick
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 6, 2012
I purchased the actual book before i got a nook. My 4yr old love it. Because it has 8 stories that he can choose from and they are pretty good in length. I wish all nook books give total reading pg numbers. Not sure how this shows up in the Nook as i read other reviews looking as if they were being scanned in. Otherwise its worth reading different stories to my child.
Rhonda
Mom2K
Posted April 30, 2012
My little girl has loved this book since she was 18 mos old (she is now two and a half). Toddlers love the curious adventures of George. My friend's toddler kept asking to read my daughter's copy so her mom had to get her one too. Great value.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Safyr_Drathmir
Posted January 31, 2012
...and the big ones too.
I got this for my child who's learning to read. The movies and cartoons can't quite capture the imagination like a good book.
The formatting took a little getting used to, but otherwise as delightful as the hardback.
A must for any Curious George fan.
Anonymous
Posted January 18, 2012
good
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 5, 2011
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Overview
“He was a good little monkey and always very curious.” This is how H. A. Rey and his wife, Margret, first introduced their now beloved troublemaker-hero to young readers in 1941. In this hefty 192-page hardcover treasury, Curious George fans will find eight stories based on the popular primate, painted in Rey’s original watercolor and charcoal style: Curious George Takes a Train (2002), Curious George Visits a Toy Store (2002), Curious George and the Dump Truck (1999), Curious George and the Birthday Surprise ...