Customer Reviews

Curious George's First Day of School

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book, written relatively recently and drawn by Anna Grossnickle Hines pales in comparison to the longer and more involved stories of Curious George from Rey's early portfolio. George faces no serious crisis, and his curiosity is unportrayed.

The story begins with George and his friend eating breakfast and preparing to go to school. Where the story could have used this situation to explore the anxiety of first-time school children, the author simply puts George in the position of teacher's assistant. Then, the kids all play happily and George helps them. To this point, the story is wholly uninteresting, unfortunately.

What happens next is the typical "George gets curious" plot point, except that George doesn't seem curious about what he is doing. He mixes paints to make new colors and ends up making a big mess. He is never really portrayed as being curious about what colors are to be created, nor is he very curious about anything else.

After the mess, the teacher does nothing of importance, neither scolding George for his curiosity nor assuring him that everything is fine. Of course George feels like he needs to help, so he goes straight to the janitor's closet to get a mop and ends up spilling water everywhere. Again, George is not portrayed as curious, only bumbling.

In the end, all the kids feel sorry for George and help him clean up the mess. George gets the praise of the principal and janitor and everyone goes home happy.

The story is short, trite, and not true to the Curious George character. I did not like the book. It is a pale shadow of other Curious George books like Curious George goes to the Hospital and Curious George Takes a Job. It's not terrible, but it really doesn't have much going for it.

I have the Kindle edition of this book (It's great to be able to take the Kindle places and read stories to my daughter). Unlike other Curious George books I have on kindle, the print is very small and cannot be enlarged.

The story itself was OK and my daughter enjoyed it.

While the story itself is fine, neither my niece nor I were unable to read this kindle version because the print is SO small and is not adjustable. Very disappointed.

I bought this book to commemorate my son starting pre-school. I also read it to my preschool class the first day! It is a super easy read, that doesn't have a lot of words so it keeps the kids attention

Young children love to hear stories about Curious George. As a child I remember having stories about this mischievous little monkey read to me. I have read them to my children and now I'm reading them to my granchildren. My two year old granddaughter always asks me to read her "the monkey book."
As a reading specialist I always recommend to parents that "Curious George" become a part of their preschooler's personal library. This Curious George book can introduce the concept of school and lead to discussion with your little one about school.
Renee F. Mizrahi MSEd
Developmental English professor Kingsborough College
Author of "Secrets to Reading Success: from the Early Years to First Grade"

My son, age three, has been obsessed with Curious George for about a year now. We have most of the book titles in print now. I purchased Curious George's First Day of School for my son a few months before he began preschool to help prepare him for the experience. While this book is more about George visiting an elementary or primary school classroom, it did help start the conversation with my son about going to school. Of course, in this tale George finds a way to cause more unintentional trouble, with a happy ending. The story is simple and appeals to my little preschooler. A must for every Curious George fan! A side note: this story is written and illustrated in the more classic George style, not the PBS television show.

This is a character enjoyed by my [...] grandson, especially now that he is also starting school. It arrived in excellent condition and was packaged well.Good job.

Good book. It's one of the older George stories and drawings, not one of the newer George stories and drawings.

I love all the curious George books. Who Doesn't?

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"