goldjay's Full Review: Margret Rey and H.A. Rey - Curious George Goes Cam...
Curious George Goes Camping is a fun story about the lovable monkey. It was adapted from the Curious George film series and was originally written and illustrated by Margaret and H.A. Rey. It was edited by Margaret Rey and Alan J Shalleck. It was published in 1990. I have always liked the Curious George books and this one is no exception.
The Story
The story starts with George, the monkey, and his friend, the man with the yellow hat heading out in their car for a camping trip They pick a campsite and the man decides he needs to go and find some water to cook with. He tells George to stay put and not to get into trouble.
Always curious, George goes exploring. He sees a man cooking fish for his family and a girl putting out a fire with a bucket of water. Then he sees a tent with a pole inside and he goes in and knocks over the pole accidentally. The tent collapses as the owner approaches and George knows he’s in trouble again.
Curious George runs off and up a tree. He feels safe up there and he can see so much! But, then he spies a fire coming from an empty campsite and he gets scared. George climbed down the tree and rushed to get the bucket of water that the man with the yellow hat had just brought. He took it to the site and poured it on the fire. Others came with buckets too and the fire was soon out. The man whose tent George had collapsed saw what a good job George did at getting the fire out that he couldn’t be mad at him anymore. George was happy to hear that. Then he and his friend went off to have dinner at their campsite.
Text and Illustrations
This book has 32 numbered pages. There are approximately 10-30 words per page. The words are written in white space at the bottom of each page. The words convey the story through narrative and conversation. They are not necessarily easy reader words but they are not overly difficult either. A beginning reader could probably read most of this book. My daughter was an early reader and was able to read this book on her own at age 5.
The illustrations really show what is happening in the story. We see everything that the text is telling us in the pictures. The pictures are made of black line drawings filled in with colors. The colors are bright and vivid. There is a good amount of detail without being overly busy or distracting. Overall, I feel that the illustrations are definitely an asset to this book. The text alone would be boring.
My Thoughts
I do like this book and I love the curious little monkey! This is a fun book to read but I think it is important to talk with children about George and some of the things he does. It was great that he observed the girl putting the fire out with a bucket of water and he learned from that. He stored the bit of information in case he ever needed it and it did come in handy. That was really a good thing to teach children.
On the other hand, he went into a tent that did not belong to him and he messed it up. That is bad enough. But, George also ran away from the problem when he thought that he would get in trouble. Running away from a problem is a poor solution, in my opinion. I discussed this with my daughter and made sure that she knew that it wasn’t the best choice. We brainstormed other ideas so that she could use them if she ever needed them.
I do think it was smart of George to have been able to put out the fire that he observed. He used quick thinking and clever strategies. My daughter liked this part when he put out the fire. She thought George was a hero for being able to get the fire out in time. I just think that George should not have been “let off the hook” so easily about his problem with the tent.
Recommendations
I would recommend this story for preschool children with a lot of extra discussion about right and wrong. I don’t think that children should be taught to run away from their troubles and this should be emphasized to children who read this story. Nonetheless, George is a fun character and, in the right perspective, he really does mean well. This is a fun story to read with the right understanding.
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