What do you think?
Rate this book
Billy's Picture
Billy the Bunny is painting a picture. He knows just how he wants it to look, but each of his friends has a different idea—and they all want to help. Penny the Puppy, Greta the Goose, and a parade of other animals add to the mix, and soon Billy’s picture is nothing like what he imagined.
Is it a puppygoose? A porcuphant? What will Billy do?
From the creators of Curious George, Spotty, and Pretzel, this story about art and individuality is back in print after many years. It will be welcomed by any small child ready to giggle.
Is it a puppygoose? A porcuphant? What will Billy do?
From the creators of Curious George, Spotty, and Pretzel, this story about art and individuality is back in print after many years. It will be welcomed by any small child ready to giggle.
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
About the author
Margret Rey
257 books122 followersMargret 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 12, 2023
Found a book by Margret & H.A. Rey that I hadn't read yet: Billy's Picture (published in 1948)! A really sweet story about how Billy the Bunny is drawing a picture and his friends all come along and add parts of themselves to make a really mixed-up animal in the end! The best part is watching Billy's facial expressions in the illustrations to see how he is reacting to the intrusion into his art (hint: he's appalled!).
March 24, 2018
Billy was a bunny and he had a silly picture and it was a [spoiler alert] PUPPYGOOSE and a PORCUPHANT.
April 8, 2018
Recommendation from Simply Charlotte Mason for enduring, living books for preschoolers.
April 24, 2018
a subtle reminder to be who we are
December 28, 2015
My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.
http://spreadthewordnevada.org/
Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.
I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.
October 13, 2009
I can't believe I've never come across this book before, by the same couple who brought us Curious George. What I liked about this book is that the simple and amusing pictures stand alone, without the text. Logan picked this book up at the library and "read" it on his own, laughing as the animals each add their own features to billy the bunny's picture. He totally got and was engaged by the story without reading a word. I'm reluctant to read it to him now, as he was narrating it to himself and I don't want to have the author's text to overshadow Logan's own. But I don't imagine I'll be able to get away with that, as Logan will want me to read it.
October 16, 2012
This cute and simple book has lots of pictures and words, It’s a about a bunny painting a picture and all of his friends deciding to help with the pictures, at the end the picture ends up turning very different. I like this book because children can understand the story by just looking at the picture.
Learning experience
Children will get different parts of animals and words that go along with each animal. The children can work with a partner to put the animal’s body parts and words that goes along with each picture together. We will then talk about different types of animals and the importance of teamwork.
Learning experience
Children will get different parts of animals and words that go along with each animal. The children can work with a partner to put the animal’s body parts and words that goes along with each picture together. We will then talk about different types of animals and the importance of teamwork.
April 8, 2014
A story by the authors of Curious George. This is a gentle story about Billy the Bunny who is trying to draw a picture. He draws a body and then various friends come along to help draw the rest. They all draw body parts that resemble their own eg porcupine quills, goose feet, owl wings. Billy gets upset but they work it out by sharing the paper and all drawing pictures of themselves.
A nice story, sweet and fun. My daughter got more and more excited and worried about poor Billy's picture that she was nearly in tears (in a good way) but so glad to see the happy ending!
Great for preschoolers and probably as an early reading book.
A nice story, sweet and fun. My daughter got more and more excited and worried about poor Billy's picture that she was nearly in tears (in a good way) but so glad to see the happy ending!
Great for preschoolers and probably as an early reading book.
September 24, 2012
Billy's Picture is a wonderful story about how Billy the Bunny simply wants to paint a picture of himself. However, all his friends want to include themselves in his picture too. In the end, they each draw a self-portrait and everyone is happy with their picture. The illustrations in this book are rather funny, and they do a good job of adding unique parts of all the different animals into one picture. This is a book I would definitely want in my classroom library. I shared this book with my practicum class and the children loved it! I highly recommend this book.
Read
April 16, 2013Billy’s Picture is a story about Billy the Bunny and his painting. Billy starts a painting with an idea in mind but as he is painting, his friends each have a different idea and want to help. In the end, Billy’s picture turns out to be nothing like he imagined. Billy’s Picture could be implemented into a kindergarten classroom as a fun and interactive follow up activity to reading the book. Children could draw self-portraits of themselves. Its okay for things not to end up like how they thought of it!
October 3, 2012
Billy’s Picture is a story about Billy the Bunny and his painting. Billy starts a painting with an idea in mind but as he is painting, his friends each have a different idea and want to help. In the end, Billy’s picture turns out to be nothing like he imagined. Billy’s Picture could be implemented into a kindergarten classroom as a fun and interactive follow up activity to reading the book. Children could draw self-portraits of themselves.
July 4, 2012
I love this story. All the critters help Billy draw his picture with each giving the image their own particular and very individual part. The elephant add the nose, the bunny a tail, the duck a mouth. Suffice it to say, a platypus has nothing on the end result although maybe that's how it ended up looking so different.
January 21, 2016
A bit too simplistic in story for Asher (4yo) now. If he were younger it would be better. It's very repetitive.
But, it's really fun to see the pictures the animals come up with.
Written and illustrated by the Reys of Curious George fame.
But, it's really fun to see the pictures the animals come up with.
Written and illustrated by the Reys of Curious George fame.
January 15, 2009
I read this to help explain why I don't draw on my students artwork.
March 13, 2013
So every one has their own ideas, but leave him alone already
September 25, 2014
Just the right amount of silliness for young children.
February 20, 2017
A fun, simple story!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews