Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys

Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys by H.A. Rey

Cecily G is a bored giraffe who wants somebody to play with. Then she runs across 9 monkeys. At first she helps them by being a bridge across a chasm. Then they become playfriends. Most of the games at first involve Cecily enabling the monkeys. One cringeworthy one has the monkeys tie Cecily's neck to a tree so they can ski down. (I can just the giraffe suffocate.) In one humorous one, Cecily hangs her skin out to dry after getting wet. There is some interesting humour in this book. George is just one of the monkeys and doesn't really stand out. However, this was the first book that he appears.

Curious George Goes to a Bookstore

Curious George Goes to a Bookstore by Mary O'Keefe Young, illustrated by Julie M. Bartynski

Curious George goes to the bookstore to see his favorite author. He eats banana bread and builds a dispaly of some of the books. In the end, he gets to help out the author. It is a typical derivative Curious George book.

Curious George Pat-A-Cake

Curious George Pat-A-Cake by Cynthia Platt, designed by Joyce White

There are some monkey hands that can clap. There are also a few pictures from Curious George books, but at the core, this is just a nursery rhyme book, milking a Curious George brand extension.

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books)

Curious George's Train (mini movers shaped board books) by Alessandra Preziosi, illustrated by Greg Paprocki, Designed by Carol Chu, created by Margret and H.A. Rey

This is a derivative use of Curious George IP. the board book is shaped like a train, and has some spinning wheels and some things that can come out (which are now missing.) The story is a super short story of a train, with no "Curious George" content other than the monkey himself.

Jorge el Curioso

Jorge el Curioso by H.A. Ray

This is Curious George in Spanish. It doesn't go easy with the words. Some I didn't recognize. (But perhaps I didn't know the dialect.) The pictures are all the same. It is fun to read out loud to practice Spanish reading. "Monocito" just has a nice ring to it.

Curious George in the Snow

Curious George in the Snow by Vipay Interactive

Curious George is at a ski resort with the Man with the Yellow Hat. The Man tells him to not get in trouble... and of course he does. He jumps in a bobsled and ends up crashing into lift poll. He goes back up and takes a pizza pan down and crashes into a skier, breaking a ski, and taking the broken ski the rest of the way down. He finds the man and then watches the skier then win the race. It is a derivative George book that is a confused moral. George causes a lot of destruction, but the only "good" he seemed to do was be entertaining in his ruckus. It is a bit better than the snowy day book.

Curious George's First Day of School

Curious George's First Day of School by Anna Grossnickle Hines and H.A. Ray

In this "new" George book, George goes off to school to be a helper. He does a lot of things to help out, but then starts to mix colors. At first he creates real colors, but then he creates a big mess. He steals the custodian's mop to clean up, and tips it over, making a bigger mess. However, all is forgiven when he gets all the kids to work together to clean up the mess. It try's to follow the George formula, but doesn't quite pull it off. It doesn't feel right that the same "bad" activity is what also gets the forgiveness.

Curious George Visits the Zoo

Curious George Visits the Zoo by Margret Ray and Alan J. Shalleck

The Curious George television film series officially had he involvement of the spouse of the original Curious George author. However, it appears they could not be bothered with reading the actual books. In the first Curious George book, George lives in the zoo. In later capers he hides out with other zoo animals and draws pictures of his animal friends. With that, why would he find the zoo an exciting, novel place? 

In this story, the man takes him to the zoo. He gets into trouble swiping bananas. However, he gets out of trouble by feeding the monkeys and getting a kid's balloon. It all follows the formula, even if it doesn't have continuity with the original stories.

Curious George Snowy Day

Curious George Snowy Day by Rotem Mascovich, Lazar Saric

This is "an adapted from TV" Curious George. It is not quite as bad as others. George explores the snow. He borrows some skis, but crashes. He gets a ride in a sled with others and then borrows snow shoes. Finally he rescues a pig with a makeshift sled and gets to enjoy some hot chocolate.

Curious George Takes a Train

Curious George Takes a Train by Martha Wilson

The book mentions the series creator and the fact that it has stickers, but never mentions the author or illustrator. That is a bad sign. The story is a bad clone of a Curious George book. George takes a train. He gets in trouble for messing up the status board, but gets forgiven when he stops a kid from chasing off to the tracks. There is lots of formula, with little originality.

The Complete Adventures of Curious George

The Complete Adventures of Curious George: 70th Anniversary Edition by H. A. Rey and Margret Rey

Curious George (1941)

Curious George Takes a Job (1947)

Curious George Rides a Bike (1952)

Curious George Gets a Medal (1957)

Curious George Flies a Kite (1958)

Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963)

Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966)

This collection has all the original Curious George books. They are of a higher quality than the newer stories by other authors. They also have various elements that would not be considered appropriate today. In the first book, George is found by the Man with the Yellow Hat in Africa. He smokes a pipe and then eagerly goes to the zoo. In all the books, George gets in trouble in various ways due to his curiosity. However, he always manages to get out of the trouble - often by using some of the same skills that got him in trouble in the first place.

These stories are quite old. Some look data. In Curious George Gets a Medal, George is the first animal to bail out of a rocket in space. This was before the space program had really taken off. In others, they just show a time of the past. In Curious George Rides a Bike, George gets a bike that he rides around. He later takes over a friends paper route, breaks his bike, and then joins an animal circus. He gets banished from the circus, then rescues a bear and gets to join. Everyone in the town knows each other and forgives him for not delivering their papers.

While he sometimes seems to be in a bucolic small town, other times he is in the middle of a big city. However, everyone still seems to know each other.

The collection includes CDs that include the audiobook versions of the stories. These include background music for almost the entire time.

The "Learns the Alphabet" was my least favorite. It seemed to be too slow and the pictures formed with letters was forced. For my favorite, I'd pick the first, though the early ones were all good.

Curious George and the Birthday Surprise

Curious George and the Birthday Surprise by H.A. Ray and Martha Weston

There is a "surprise" at George's house. George does some ruckus decorating and trying to frost the cake. Then he has dogs clean up the mess. He then finds the surprise is a birthday party for him. It feels like an attempt to use the George formula that just doesn't quite cut it.