Curious George

Seeing "The Taming of George" at the top of today's Boston Globe along with a picture of Curious George being held by two policeman caught my attention.  This interesting article  (note: you may need to sign-up for free on Boston.com to access article) describes the argument of Daniel Greenstone suggesting that George grew less curious--perhaps even boring--over the course of the series, as the authors were influenced by popular childrearing theories of the time.

George was one of my favorite characters as a child, with the story where he swallows a puzzle piece being the book I read the most.  Now I enjoy reading Curious George books to my son.  As a parent, I like the way the stories give a sense of adventure and the highlight the fun of being inquisitive.  So what's this about incurious George?

The article references pedantic books like "Curious George Learns the ABCs", which admittedly is not as fun as George's early adventures.  According the the argument, the fragility of children's psyches was a dominant theme in child development theory in the 1950s, and caused the authors to rein in George's curious ways.

At a barbecue in Cambridge some years ago, I had a chance to meet Margaret Rey, who created Curious George along with her husband.  She had a cluster of college students around her like me, anxiously looking to hear of the insights and deep meaning that she intended with the beloved creature of our childhood. 

But Ms. Rey was not one to wax philosophical about the creation of George.  With a twinkle in her eye and a little shrug, she said she and her husband were in Paris at the time when they developed Geogee, a bit bored and looking for something fun to do.  Like any author, perhaps she was influenced a bit by the theories of her time.  But for me, that sense of fun out of which the series was born pervades the books and makes Curious George something I'm excited to share with my son.