User:Spkarp/Curious George (book)

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Curious George is a children's book written and illustrated by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey, and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941. It is the first book in the Curious George series and it tells the story of an orphaned chimpanzee (referred to as a monkey in the books) named George and his adventures with the Man with the Yellow Hat. As of May 1, 2021, it has sold over 25 million copies, and has been translated into various different languages such as Japanese, French, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Swedish, German, Chinese, Danish, and Norwegian. It is also in the Indie Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame and has also been the subject of scholarly criticism.

Plot
The story opens with George, a little orphaned chimpanzee, in the jungle of Africa. An unnamed man in a large, yellow straw hat observes him through his binoculars and decides to bring the monkey home with him. He puts his hat on the ground and hides behind a tree. George, ever curious, comes down from the tree. He puts the hat on but it is so large that he cannot see and this gives the Man with the Yellow Hat the chance to capture him and put him in a bag. The Man takes George in a rowboat to his cruise ship where he tells George that he is taking him to a zoo in a big city and that he will like it there. He then gives George the run of the ship and tells him not to get into trouble. On deck, George sees some seagulls, tries to fly with them, and falls overboard. The crew notices that George is missing, and spot him in the Atlantic Ocean. They throw him a lifesaver and pull him aboard.

When they arrive in America, George says goodbye to the sailors, and is then taken to the Man's house, where he has a meal, smokes a pipe, and then goes to bed. The next day, after seeing the Man make a telephone call to the zoo before leaving, George wants to use the telephone too. He plays with the telephone until he inadvertently calls the fire station causing a false fire alarm. The fire alarm at the fire station goes off and the phone rings. When the firefighters hear the call, they rush to the telephone and hear no answer. They are unaware that it is George and think it is a real fire. Then they get on their fire trucks quickly. But when they rush to the house, all they find is George. Then two firefighters grab George and arrest him for the false alarm. They take him away and shut him in a prison.

George attempts to climb out through the window in order to escape, but there are bars. At that moment, a watchman comes in and climbs on a wooden bed to catch George. The watchman, however, is so heavy that the bed tips over and pins him against the wall. This accident buys George enough time to escape. Out in the street, he spots a balloon vendor and tries to grab a balloon but ends up grabbing the entire bunch and gets sent flying off into the air. Down below, the houses and people look like toy houses and dolls, respectively. George is carried by the breeze until it gradually stops, leaving George on top of a traffic signal, which mixes up traffic. The Man with the Yellow Hat finds him there, buys all the balloons from the street vendor, and finally takes George to his new home at the zoo, where each animal gets its own balloon.

Sales and Republication
Five years after the book’s publication, Houghton Muffin almost stopped printing it due to its low demand, but it later became much more popular. Since its publishing, the book has never gone out of print and has sold over 25 million copies. The book has been published in paperback, hardcover, pop-up book, and audiobook.

Critical Commentary
Curious George has received many positive reviews from critics as well as a few negative ones. Critic David Mehegan of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel argues that children should understand that Curious George’s curiosity does get him into a lot of trouble, such as when he floats away on the balloons, but his curiosity makes life more interesting. Ultimately, children relate to this character because he, like them, “impulsively breaks commonsense rules set by grown-ups in a desire to understand the marvelous new world around him.”

Critic Shannon Maughan of Publishers Weekly claims this book can be used by teachers to help promote conservation of forests and the species inside of them. The Reys have also published more books relating to conservation efforts and environmental awareness including Curious George Plants a Seed in 2007 and Curious George Plants a Tree in 2010.

In author Rivka Gachen's New Yorker piece, she found contradictory parallels in Curious George to the Middle Passage and the “reassuring and almost fantastical sense of wealth." Gachen claims the idea that a monkey being taken from Africa and almost drowning in the Atlantic Ocean can be very closely paralleled with the Middle Passage. On the other hand, the material goods that George receives once he arrives in America contradict these original ideas.

Accolades
Curious George was a finalist for induction into the American Booksellers Association Indies Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In 2012, the book was officially inducted into the Hall.