The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition
by Margaret Rey

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Book Reviews of The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition

Book Review: They don't write them like this anymore
Summary: 5 Stars

I know that I read (or had read to me) at least some of the Curious George books when I was in grade school. And I remember that I liked them. But that's almost all I remember. So, when we were given this book as a present for our two children, I didn't know what to expect.

I am now in awe of what a wonderful series of stories this is. There are seven stories, published over a series of twenty-five years. By modern publishing standards, that's not a lot of books for a successful series. There's a reason for that: Margaret and H.A. Rey took their time to craft fine stories.

These are stories that are written in a simple, comprehensible way, so my kids have been enjoying them since they were three years old. However, the stories are not "dumbed down" for children. The plots are interesting, with twists and turns. In "Curious George Gets a Medal," George goes from thinking about writing letters, to trying to clean up some spilled ink, to trying to find a pump to clean up some water, to trying to find an animal to drag a pump, to a museum, where he meets the person who had written the letter that started him on his quest (!), to a rocket ride. This description cannot do justice to the natural flow the incidents have in the context of the story.

The illustrations are in a bright, charming, and in what is (now) an immediately recognizable style. Unlike so many children's books, it is obvious that great care has been put into the illustrations. In one picture, George is shown floating over the city, carried aloft by some balloons he had taken. He is the focus, of course, but if we look carefully, we see on the ground the balloon-man, from whom George had taken the balloons (running after George below), the brother and sister who were buying a balloon from him when George took the other balloons, the man with the yellow hat (driving in the same blue car with a tire on the back that will reappear on the next page), and a couple of men who have obviously walked into each other and fallen down because they were looking up in the air at George. Priceless!

The only entry in this collection that is not up to the general high standard is "Curious George Learns the Alphabet." This is really not a story at all, but an introduction to the letters, showing how each resembles something that starts with that letter. It's fine for what it is, but it pales in comparison with the rich stories around it.

You can really appreciate how outstanding these stories are when you compare them to contemporary efforts to continue the series, like "Curious George and the Dumptruck" (published, thank goodness, separately). This story has none of the sparkle of the authentic, original Curious George.

In this era of political correctness, some parents, librarians and teachers may be concerned about certain aspects of some stories. George smokes a pipe before bed in one; in another he opens a bottle of ether, sniffs it, and goes into a woozy state before passing out. George also lives in a world in which there seem to be almost no people of color.

So supplement your children's reading of Curious George with other books that reflect the diversity of the world, and add your own little glosses to parts of the book that show behavior that concerns you ("Oh, George shouldn't open a medicine bottle should he? You wouldn't do that, would you?"). But do read to your children, and encourage them to read, Curious George.

Summary of The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition

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