Curious George Series (favorites)
On the whole, we love the Curious George books. George is cute and easy to relate to. The drawings are done in a way that help the reader relate to George. The stories are often a bit longer and more complex than a lot of books for little ones, where the resolution of the initial misunderstanding is often not the end of the story but leads to another situation.
There are many books, many we love, but a few we skip because of some of the content that is mostly related to the time when the books were written. We will list the ones we love here and the ones we skip under a separate entry under the skip it category.
Curious George Takes a Job (1947): This story is very early in the series, as far as I can tell the second book. George is still at the zoo here. We like this story, however, there are two aspects to be aware of. The conflict resolution isn’t great, several characters simply tried to chase George till he gets hurt and near in the end the man in the yellow hat and another man are smoking cigars. This is not uncommon in the early Curious George books and if this is too prominent in the story we skip the story, but since this is only one page, it’s manageable in this one.
Curious George in the Snow (1998): Overall, a fun story in the style of George over the years with the added fun of snow. There are two instances in this story where my little one asked several questions and seemed concerned. These are both moments where a parent might want to talk about the concerns listed under Cautions below. One of the moments was when George crashed into a pole, one was when George hurt another skiier.
Curious George Plants a Tree (2009): This story is written by a different author, Monica Perez. The story is structured very similarly to the previous authors, but the story feels different. It seems more sensitive to the times than the previous stories. George’s troubles revolve around recycling and planting a tree. George isn’t wrecking anything or getting hurt and there are no cigars or the like. At the end there are even instructions on planting a tree.
Cautions: There is a balance to be found with George’s curiosity where it gets him in trouble, yet it helps him learn and grow. If these books are read to a little one, there should be some discussion of behavior, curiosity, rewards and consequences.
