Curious George Goes to School

Curious George New Adventures

by Margret Rey, H.A. Rey, Alan J. Shalleck (Editor)

It's open house at George's school, and George gets to try his hand at painting in the art room. What he creates, however, is not a pretty picture! George is still a clever monkey, though, and in the end, he makes the open house a happy occasion for everyone.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, School, Fiction, School Stories, Back To School, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Margret Elizabeth Rey (May 16, 1906 – December 21, 1996), born Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein, was (with her husband H. A. Rey), the co-author and illustrator of children's books, best known for their Curious George

Although she was born in Germany, she fled to Brazil early in her life to escape Nazism. While there, she met her future husband Hans (who was a salesman and also from Germany). They married in 1935 and moved to Paris, France that same year.

While in Paris, Hans's animal drawings came to the attention of French publisher, who commissioned him to write a children's book. The result, Rafi and the Nine Monkeys, is little remembered today, but one of its characters, an adorably impish monkey named Curious George, was such a success that the couple considered writing a book just about him. Their work was interrupted with the outbreak of World War II. As Jews, the Reys decided to flee Paris before the Nazis seized the city. Hans built two bicycles, and they fled Paris just a few hours before it fell. Among the meager possessions they brought with them was the illustrated manuscript of Curious George.

The Reys' odyssey brought them to the Spanish border, where they bought train tickets to Lisbon. From there they returned to Brazil, where they had met five years earlier, but this time they continued to New York, New York. The books were published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941, though certain changes had to be introduced because of the technology of the time. Hans and Margret originally planned to use watercolors to illustrate the books, but since they were responsible for the color separation, he changed these to the cartoon-like images that continue to feature in each of the books. (A collector's edition with the original watercolors was recently released.)

Curious George was an instant success, and the Reys were commissioned to write more adventures of the mischievous monkey and his friend, the Man in the Yellow Hat. They wrote seven stories in all, with Hans mainly doing the illustrations and Margret working mostly on the stories, though they both admitted to sharing the work and cooperating fully in every stage of development. At first, however, Margret's name was left off the cover, ostensibly because there was a glut of women already writing children's fiction. In later editions, this was corrected, and Margret now receives full credit for her role in developing the stories.

Margret and her husband moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1963, in a house close to Harvard Square. Following her husband's death in 1977, Margret continued writing, and in 1979, became a Professor of Creative Writing at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Starting in 1980, she also began to collaborate with Alan Shalleck on a series of short films featuring Curious George and more than two dozen additional books.

In 1989 Margret Rey established the Curious George Foundation to help creative children and prevent cruelty to animals. In 1996, she made major donations to the Boston Public Library and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She was also a long-time supporter of the Longy School of Music. The Reys spent twenty summers in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, to enable H.A. Rey to better observe the stars for his astronomy writing. They became an integral part of the Waterville community and their legacy is honored by The Margret and H.A. Rey Center and the Curious George Cottage located there.

Dr. Lena Y. de Grummond, a professor in the field of library science (specializing in children's literature) at The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss. contacted the Reys in 1966 about the university's new children's literature collection. H.A. and Margret made a donation of a pair of sketches at the time. In 1996, after Margret's death, it was revealed in her will that the entire literary estate of the Reys were to be donated to the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at Southern Miss.

Reviews

[Heather McC · Rating 3 out of 5]

George finds a way to become an extra creative helper and friend during an open house session at school.

[Emma Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to a couple of young children yesterday.

[Sereen Hudaib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Curious George goes to school. This is a good book to read in the first week of school or even the first day it will give children a good fun example of things they will be doing at school. George had fun painting, and children will be interested in painting too. Also, I can see this book being used at the beginning of an art lesson to encourage children to paint and use painting tools. The illustration is colorful. I believe children will like this book; everyone loves Curious George.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter has me read this book to her about once a year. I think I enjoy the story more than her.

[K Morlando · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love Curious George books!

[The Book Box]

My 1st grade teacher read this to my class on Teams.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

You just have to love curious George, This book is great for kids who are headed to their first days of school...like George.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alissa's really into monkeys and George especially. Daddy tells her lots of made-up George stories.

[Little Champs]

3110

[lprater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic: Curious George is a familiar character children will enjoy. In this particular story, George is going to school and wants to paint a picture. His curiosity gets the best of him when he gets warm and turns on the fan. Pictures fly everywhere but when cleaning up, he helps locate a student's missing picture of a horse.
Children will love the simple language used to tell the story as well as the illustrations that accompany it. The cartoon like images are simple, yet colorful and add to the meaning and understanding of the story. The front cover illustration of the book includes the the man in the yellow hat walking with George, but children outside of New York may be confused to the meaning of P.S. 104 (public school name). Curious George books can often be located easily due to the familar yellow book cover.

[Remington Ivey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curious George Goes to School is a great read aloud book for K-1, especially ELLs. It has very simple language, but is still an enjoyable story. It also has wonderful illustrations! This story could be used to work on making predictions by asking the students what they think will happen next once the art teacher leaves the room. It could also be used as an opportunity in the beginning of the year (or maybe as a reminder later on) of school rules and what's okay to touch when. George's mess was able to be cleaned up in time but that might not always be the case so it's better to error on the side of caution.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may not be a traditional review of a Curious George book, but as a teacher this book makes me laugh every time. I love that the art teacher leaves George alone, is surprised that he makes a mess, and then praises him when in cleaning up they find a lost piece of artwork that the teacher has previously failed another student for not turning in. I know the story isn't supposed to be viewed literally, but if you do you will laugh out loud.

[Ebony Hargett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about Curious George's first days at school. Great book for entering Kindergarten students. I would love to use this book with a puppet monkey to make the book come alive. This book and a puppet would definately create some laughs, engagement and learning at the beginning of the school year.

[Christy Whitaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

George creates chaos once again in this story but, like always, something good comes of it- he finds a little girl's missing painting. This book can teach kids to look on the bright side of everything. It can also be used to introduce cause-effect relationships (ex. George turns on the fan-papers fly everywhere). Plus, the kids enjoy reading about this crazy little monkey.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this to a class of 1st graders and they loved it! An enthusiastic little monkey who goes to school, wants to be helpful but ends up causing chaos? lol I think they could relate. The illustrations were adorable. There was also writing in the illustrations (like "welcome to school" or something along those lines) which early readers love to spot.

[Ealthafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love reading Curious George books because I love the illustrations. I also love how George always does something wrong but when he fixes it something good always happens. I would use this book to teach predicting. For example when George turns the fan on...what's going to happen?

[Jessica Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book to show that accidents happen to everyone! This little monkey always gets into some kind of mischief and it is fun to see how he gets out of his problems. He helps a lot of people!

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an adaptation of a Curious George film. George goes to school for parent-teacher night with the man with the yellow hat and ends up accidentally making a mess, but also helps an art teacher find a student's missing painting.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well he makes a mess of the art room but at least he doesn't smoke a pipe in this one.

[jenna Hudrlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

the curious george books are fun to read because they seem a bit old fashioned yet Caroline loves them because she sees him on tv - nice, simple books with a good story

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

My son likes this book, but I have an irrational hate for it. The story line is so cheesy. And of course we have to read it about 20 times a day. Can't wait to bring it back to the library!

[Cws]

JEAR2-Rey

[Brooke]

I read this book to my pre-k class. It is a silly story about all the many fun things students get to do at school. Children will love reading this book as well as having this book read to them.

[Becca Holcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curious George is such a funny character. This would be a fun book to read at the start of a school year. The pictures are well illustrated and could be used for some great predicting.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curious George is so cute!! He goes to school with the man in the yellow hat and paints a beautiful picture. When it seems he causes trouble, he really saves the day for one little girl. =)

[Dash · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite part was when George was painting.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should have been called Curious George Goes to Art Class rather than school. It is a good simple text for introducing the concept of foreshadowing to young children, however.

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 35810 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 2.4 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little story about Open House at George's school. The man in the yellow hat has gone to meet with George's teacher. Now all he has to do is keep out of trouble! Very cute and fun.

[Alexandria K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, because it has art in it.