Customer Reviews

The Complete Adventures of Curious George, Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

What can be added to classic stories like these? The content of this collection is unimpeachable, so I'll pass and skip onto what downgraded the collection.

In short, this is a very shoddily constructed book. My wife and I carefully handled it when reading to our son, but within a couple days the page bundles were separating from the binding in two spots. This has progressed at such a rate that the whole book is threatening to come apart.

This is inexcusable, particularly given the thickness of the book. If you make a collection like this that will be heavily used and will certainly be handled less than gingerly by children, you better make it strong. That ours got wonky while being read from by two responsible adults makes it worse. Shame on Houghton Mifflin for producing such a poorly made book!

We purchased "The Complete Adventures of Curious George" in the hopes of saving a few dollars over purchasing all seven of the included stories separately. In light of the poor quality, though, it has proven itself to be a terrible value. Check out other options rather than purchasing a book sure to self-destruct.

I bought this book when my three year old was born, and we have been reading it ever since. We can read other books during the day, but at night, only Curious George will do. Since the stories are rather long (50-60 pages, albeit with large text and lots of pics), I now have my son read the stories to me, and he has memorized them all by using the illustrations as cues. We also have discussions about how George must feel in different situations, and what we would do if we were in his place. For both the story lines and the wonderful, colorful illustrations we rate "The Complete Adventures of Curious George" a classic among classcs for children.

How could anyone write a bad review of these priceless books? Does anyone really believe these stories will lead children to think that it is a good idea to go off with someone who throws a sack over their head? These are absolutely delightful books that generations of children have enjoyed and read to their own children. George is a hero kids can understand. He gets into predicaments because of his curiosity, but he has a conscience, knows when he has messed up, and always makes amends for his behavior--lessons desparately needed these days. People will be reading Curious George to their kids a hundred years from now. The stories are timeless, and it is great to have them collected in one durable edition.

I loved Curious George as a kid. So of course my daughter had to be introduced to him.

She loved the stories instantly. It could be because of my enthusiasm for the stories.

Her favorites were the first story because of the balloons and the one with learning the alphabet. I had to read them several times. Even a couple times in one sitting.

The one bad thing about this book is the binding. It wore out a little too easily. Her Winnie the Pooh book is much bigger and it is still tight. This book could have been better bound so I will knock it one point.

Other then that it's a classic that will probably get read to my grandchildren someday.

-edit-
I happened to be in a bookstore and noticed a different binding on a copy of the book. This is probably why there is there are people saying it's bad and good. My copy is old and the book only yellow. The new book looks like they added a support "tape" to it.....

This is a review of _The Complete Adventures of Curious George_.

I know that I read (or had read to me) at least some of the Curious George books when I was in grade school. And I remember that I liked them. But that's almost all I remember. So, when we were given this book as a present for our two children, I didn't know what to expect.

I am now in awe of what a wonderful series of stories this is. There are seven stories, published over a series of twenty-five years. By modern publishing standards, that's not a lot of books for a successful series. There's a reason for that: Margaret and H.A. Rey took their time to craft fine stories.

These are stories that are written in a simple, comprehensible way, so my kids have been enjoying them since they were three years old. However, the stories are not "dumbed down" for children. The plots are interesting, with twists and turns. In "Curious George Gets a Medal," George goes from thinking about writing letters, to trying to clean up some spilled ink, to trying to find a pump to clean up some water, to trying to find an animal to drag a pump, to a museum, where he meets the person who had written the letter that started him on his quest (!), to a rocket ride. This description cannot do justice to the natural flow the incidents have in the context of the story.

The illustrations are in a bright, charming, and in what is (now) an immediately recognizable style. Unlike so many children's books, it is obvious that great care has been put into the illustrations. In one picture, George is shown floating over the city, carried aloft by some balloons he had taken. He is the focus, of course, but if we look carefully, we see on the ground the balloon-man, from whom George had taken the balloons (running after George below), the brother and sister who were buying a balloon from him when George took the other balloons, the man with the yellow hat (driving in the same blue car with a tire on the back that will reappear on the next page), and a couple of men who have obviously walked into each other and fallen down because they were looking up in the air at George. Priceless!

The only entry in this collection that is not up to the general high standard is "Curious George Learns the Alphabet." This is really not a story at all, but an introduction to the letters, showing how each resembles something that starts with that letter. It's fine for what it is, but it pales in comparison with the rich stories around it.

You can really appreciate how outstanding these stories are when you compare them to contemporary efforts to continue the series, like "Curious George and the Dumptruck" (published, thank goodness, separately). This story has none of the sparkle of the authentic, original Curious George.

In this era of political correctness, some parents, librarians and teachers may be concerned about certain aspects of some stories. George smokes a pipe before bed in one; in another he opens a bottle of ether, sniffs it, and goes into a woozy state before passing out. George also lives in a world in which there seem to be almost no people of color.

So supplement your children's reading of Curious George with other books that reflect the diversity of the world, and add your own little glosses to parts of the book that show behavior that concerns you ("Oh, George shouldn't open a medicine bottle should he? You wouldn't do that, would you?"). But do read to your children, and encourage them to read, Curious George.

Growing up in the 1960's, "Curious George" was "required reading" for American children, at least in the Northeast, and the original stories gathered in this volume still stand as all-time favorites in American children's literature. Our little ones love these stories the most, just like all the reviewers here say. And this is a beautifully presented collection, including the informative background info on the authors, H.A. & Margret Rey, altogether a wonderful book. So why am I giving it 3 stars, a "medium" score? Because as a parent, and from a "buyer beware" point of view, this edition is really quite a Whopper of a volume to handle for the age group of children it is intended for, similar in bulk to an encyclopedia. Our 3-yr.-old struggles with it a bit, but when our 1-yr-old tries to wrest it from the shelf we go running to prevent it from coming down on her foot. I was wondering whether it may have been wiser to go with the original "skinny" volumes with one story in each. Also, very early on with this book a page became detached during normal kids' handling, partly due to its cumbersome weight, or that the binding may not be sturdy enough for a volume of this size. So I'd advise, that if the parents are the ones who would handle the book as they read to their small children, then this really is "The Best of George" in one place. But if your kids like to pick out their own books and read, the thinner editions would be easier for them. For anyone yet unacquainted with these stories, a good place to start would be the special edition of the first story "Curious George" which features H.A. Rey's original watercolor illustrations, which were never published in the original editions due to limitations of the color-separation process. Another great classic children's favorite published the same year as Curious George - 1941 - is "Make Way for Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey. The little ones never tire of it, and if you like antique cars and angelic policemen you'll get a kick out of it yourself!

My love for Curious George started as a child. I had to spend the night in the hospital when someone gave me Curious George Goes to the Hospital. I've loved this little monkey ever since. This book is all the George anyone could ever want. It's a great gift for kids of any age and something to treasure for years to come.

Fantastic book -- great "heirloom" quality item that will be remembered forever. Bought this book for my 3-year-old niece -- then tried to back out of giving it to her because I got all nostaligic. Big fight with my sister-in-law. Niece ended up with the book -- I came off looking like the bad guy. If you want to score big this Christmas, buy them this book. But don't get too attached to it. Remember -- you're a grown-up.

My three children love this book. I have 3 yr. old boy and girl twins and a 2 yr. old daughter. They want to read it everyday. We read Curious George Goes to the Hospital at least once a day and sometimes more. The stories are rather long but this is always the first book they choose and one story is never enough. I have always heard of Curious George but never read one of the books. I am very pleased with this book and the pictures are the best. They can sit down and tell the story to themselves by looking at the pictures. I now understand why Curious George is so popular still today.

When I was a child, curious George was one of my favorites, and now this fine book allows me to pass along George's adventures to my own children. Perhaps the best thing about this book is that it contains so many curious George stories. You could read a different story each night for several nights. My children have quickly become as fond of George as I was when I was a child. The accompanying illustrations are very colorful and they definitely grab a young child's attention. I highly recommend this fine children's book. It is a great book to share with your children and perhaps serve as a reminder to your own childhood.