Who in the world has not heard of George, the curious monkey? Curious George, who lives with the Man With the Yellow Hat, when George is not living at the zoo. Curious George, who always manages to get himself into a pickle wherever he goes. Curious George, who acts just like an inquisitive four year old and thereby continues to endear himself to succeeding generations of children, ages four to eighty-four.

Hans and Margret Rey were a German Jewish couple who escaped from the Nazi takeover of Paris on a couple of bicycles to the Spanish border, then a train to Lisbon, and a boat to Brazil. They eventually came to the United States, bringing George’s manuscript with them. Despite the attribution of the books to Hans alone, Margret and Hans wrote and illustrated the seven original books about Curious George together, and together they found a publisher.

“Curious George was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941, and for sixty years these books have been capturing the hearts and minds of readers throughout the world. All the Curious George books, including the seven original stories by Margret and Hans, have sold more than twenty-five million copies. So popular that his original story has never been out of print, George has become one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in children’s literature. His adventures have been translated into many languages, including Japanese, French, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Swedish, German, Chinese, Danish, and Norwegian.”

~Curious About George? Houghton Mifflin publishers website

Hans and Margret wrote and illustrated seven stories about Curious George:

• Curious George (1941)
• Curious George Takes a Job (1947)
• Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)
• Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)
• Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)
• Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)
• Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

These seven have been joined by a multitude of “new adventures”, paperback editions, board books, television series, movies, translations, video games, toys, games, and other merchandise–all showcasing (or exploiting) the beloved character of George the monkey. Someone (The Rey family? Houghton Mifflin?) has made a lot of money from George.

I have looked at some of the spin-off books and videos featuring Curious George, but I continue to believe that the original seven books were and remain the classic and essential Curious George canon of living books. The rest are mostly harmless twaddle, but certainly not up to the standards of the first seven books.

In the first book we meet our monkey friend when The Man With the Yellow Hat captures George in a sack and takes him from the jungle in Africa to “a big city.” I always thought of the big city as New York City, but like The Man With the Yellow Hat, the city is never explicitly named. The capture of George, made possible by his curiosity about the yellow hat, feels a bit like kidnapping and enslavement to the 21st century reader, but we are told that “George was sad, but he was still a little curious.” Although George faces near-drowning, imprisonment, danger, and a life of crime, all as a result of his insatiable curiosity, all’s well that ends well, and George goes on to live happily through many more adventures in the succeeding six books.

When Curious George Takes a Job, George escapes from his home at the zoo (again), and goes through a series of jobs, mostly ended by his continued inattention and impulsive curiosity. Eventually, George ends up in the hospital where he gets into more trouble. But The Man With the Yellow Hat finds him and takes him to a movie studio to make a movie of his life, and again George survives and thrives.

In Curious George Rides a Bike, George learns to ride a bicycle, of course, but he also manages to deliver newspapers, make and sail paper boats, ride a unicycle, play a bugle, and rescue a bear in danger. Some of these learning experiences are interrupted by George’s curiosity and naughtiness, but George is hailed as a hero in the end.

In the next book, Curious George Gets a Medal, George creates a mess and a flood and while trying to clean that up he makes an even bigger mess until he runs away to the museum. There, he gets into more trouble, but he has the opportunity to make it all right when he’s asked to fly in a rocket to become the first monkey in space. George is a hero, and The Man tells him that “the whole world is proud of you today.”

Curious George Flies a Kite was written with a “restricted vocabulary of only 219 words.” Margret Rey said later that this controlled vocabulary idea was a fad and a mistake, but that luckily the children didn’t notice that George had been dumbed down, so to speak. George gets carried off by his new kite, but he eventually returns home safely as usual.

In Curious George Learns the Alphabet, George learns to read books instead of tearing them up, and he is finally given doughnuts as a reward for his hard work in learning the alphabet. George plays tricks and monkeyshines, throughout the story, but he does learn to read and write the alphabet.

The final story in the original series of Curious George books is Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Written at the instigation of and in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, this book has George going to the hospital after he eats a jigsaw puzzle piece and gets a tummy-ache. George gets an X-ray and a shot, anesthesia and an operation, but he recovers well and manages to cheer up the other sick children with his mischievous tricks. And George even meets the mayor.

Of these seven books, the first three and the last one are my favorites and are the most engaging of the seven. Nevertheless, all seven are worth reading; they all wear well. George, like Big Bird of Sesame Street, is the eternal four year old who is always getting into scrapes, but always endearing and lovable throughout.