Margret Rey (1906–1996)

Curious George, the Man in the Yellow Hat, and Mrs. Needleman decide to go on a trip and thus head to the train station. George is soon distracted by the trainmaster posting the train schedules by hand on the board and tries to do the same, but of course his slapdash entries make for thorough confusion. However, George more than redeems himself by later rescuing a small child from falling on to the tracks.

I absolutely love Curious George, and this book did not fail, even though some of it is show more rather dated. (For instance, most train stations now have electronic boards, so children might not 100% get why/how the trainmaster is moving the arriving and departing times by hand.) As usual, George creates some mischief by trying to do something without thinking through the consequences, but he then gains forgiveness by making up for it with a good action. George seems like a very relatable character for children (and honestly for adults as well) in that he means well but sometimes makes mistakes. Rather than being berated for his errors, he learns from them.

The illustrations, billed as "in the style of the H.A. Rey," are quite comparable to the original ones by the series' co-creator. They do a fine job of complementing the story so that children can use them to help them decode the words or to simply follow along as an adult reads aloud to them. show less

Huh? The female dog keeps all the gifts Pretzel woos her with, while saying no," and then all of a sudden decides to 'marry' him because he saves her life? She says she's not marrying him because of his length, but it's his length that enables him to save her.

Is this anything like the lessons of choosing a partner that we would prefer our children to learn? Or is it ok, because they are dogs after all, and she is a bitch? Is it ok that he's proud of his shape, of which he has no control, show more because that is what we breed dogs for, even to the point of amputating tails and ears?

But then, if they're dogs and not people, why are they actually getting married in a church?

And yet, the Reys do have access to fairy dust - this book manages to charm despite the problems. So, here's my recommendation. Don't seek it out, but if you do see a copy at the library and share it with your children, *discuss* it with them.

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I feel torn in my review for this book. As a child, I read several of these books, and enjoyed them because as so many children were, I was blissfully unaware of poaching/kidnapping - which is basically what the man in the yellow hat does to George.

There is nothing mentioned of the danger of owning a chimpanzee (was the thing with Travis the chimp really over a decade ago now? Daaaaamn) but then this book was published in the 1940s, which was... really a different time in more ways than show more one.

So I will refrain from giving this book 1 star out of fairness, but I also would not recommend this as a children's book nowadays, at least not without a serious talk with the child about poaching, the exotic animal trade, et. al. show less

Curious George goes to the circus, is curious, and becomes the surprise star of the show. (Once again, in addition to being a colonialist animal thief, the man in the yellow hat is an incompetent caretaker; who tells a monkey "wait here" at a circus?)