(Houghton Mifflin, 1941)
I’ve written about my fondness for the Curious George books before.
But I recently checked out a copy of the original Curious George from my local library and I’m not sure I like the
Man with the Yellow Hat anymore. It’s not because no one should wear an
all-yellow outfit, even once let alone ALL the time. Primary colors for little
ones,…I get it. My disillusionment comes because I simply don’t like
discovering how George and Mr. Yellow met.
The story begins with George being a “good little monkey”, contentedly
swinging from a vine while eating a banana in an African jungle. Through his
binoculars, the yellow dude spots the monkey and thinks, “What a nice little
monkey. I would like to take him home with me.” He then sets that infamous hat
on the ground to lure the curious young primate.
The man picked him up
quickly and popped him into a bag. George was caught.
George is not freed from the bag until he and Yellow are
aboard a big ship.
I probably read this story as a child. This troublesome
beginning wouldn’t have fazed me. What kid doesn’t want a monkey? Now this tale
makes me sad. Call me curious, but I cannot help but wonder what George’s
mother must have thought when her baby disappeared. I also wonder how stressed
the monkey would have been. Later, when George prompts a false alarm fire truck
emergency, seven firemen scramble to capture the monkey and toss him in jail.
We see the brick walls and the window with bars on it. How traumatic. By story’s
end, George is in another enclosure: a zoo, depicted with tiny fencing and
happy animals like George playing with balloons. It’s supposed to warm our
hearts.
Times have changed since this book was published in 1941. The Story of Ferdinand, another
beloved picture book from that era (published in 1936), inanely tells us that
bulls long to be selected to be butchered in bullfights in loud stadiums for
the entertainment of humans. As long as these books remain on shelves, I think
adults need to foster environments where children think critically about how
animals are portrayed. Do animals merely exist for human musings and/or consumption?
What thoughts and feelings might animals have?
I would read this book as part of a unit that would include Tree Ring Circus and Pssst! By
Adam Rex along with Children Make Terrible Pets and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
by Peter Brown. Depending on the age group, I would bring in nonfiction
articles about the healthy giraffe killed by Danish zookeepers and the
revelation that other zoos similarly dispose of some of their animals. I would
also search for articles about how some endangered animals are gaining in
numbers due to measures taken in captivity. Children can be invited to weigh in
on their thoughts about animal welfare and animals in zoos. Some children will
want to advocate for better zoo care while others will question whether animals
should be raised in captivity at all.
We can enjoy a picture book at face value as a piece of
entertainment, but sometimes we are given the opportunity to consider the
changes (if any) between the past and the present and to allow children to
think about bigger issues.
Indeed, we should be raising curious children.
