Curious George is a children's book written and illustrated by Margret Rey

Margret Rey

Margret Elizabeth Rey , born Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein, was , the co-author and illustrator of children's books, the most famous of which are the Curious George series....

 and H. A. Rey

H. A. Rey

Hans Augusto "H.A." Rey , worked with his wife Margret Rey as authors and illustrators of children's books. They were best known for their Curious George series.-Curious George Book Series:Hans and Margret were both Jewish and of German birth...

, and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941

1941 in literature

The year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...

. It is the first book in the Curious George

Curious George

Curious George is the protagonist of a series of popular children's books by the same name, written by Hans Augusto Rey and Margret Rey. The books feature a curious brown monkey named George, who is brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat" to live with him in a big city.When...

 series and tells the story of a monkey called George and his adventures with the man with the yellow hat.

Background

The idea for Curious George came from an earlier Rey work, Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys

Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys

Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys is a 1939 children's short story written and illustrated by German-Brazilian author H.A. Rey. It is the first story to include Rey's now-famous character, Curious George. When it was first published in France, Cecily's original name was Rafi; Raffy when it was first...

. Margaret Rey's name did not appear on early copies of Curious George because the publisher felt that children's literature was too dominated by women.

Plot

The man with the yellow hat captures a monkey called George in the jungle. They sail aboard a ship for a big city and George falls into the sea while imitating some birds. He is rescued and the ship finally puts into port. The man goes home with George but the monkey plays with the telephone and inadvertently calls the fire station, and is unfortunately taken to jail. Luckily, he escapes jail. Later, he tries to grab a balloon from a vendor, but takes the entire bunch and sails away high into the sky. The wind dies down and George descends, landing on a traffic signal. The man rescues him, buys all the balloons from the vendor, and takes George and the balloons to the zoo, George's new home.