The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 2 of 10)

Curious George Rides a Bike , Curious George Gets a Medal , Curious George Flies a Kite , Curious George Learns the Alphabet , and Curious George Goes to the Hospital ) and a biographical sketch of H. A. and Margaret Rey. The alphabet book doesn't read well as a story (Dr. Suess does better with the subject), but the rest follow the same pattern as the first book, and are just as much fun: George, left on his own, gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble, but comes out all right in the end. br> -- Mike Bates /p>

I was gratified to read Francis X. Rocca's appreciation of the Curious George stories. Mr. Rocca confined himself largely to praising the charm of the stories. As you may remember, I tried some time back to write an appreciation of H.A. Rey's art -- I consider his skills to be astounding. I foundered, unfortunately; I'm not an art critic, and I just didn't have the knowledge or the vocabulary to praise him adequately. But, given Mr. Rocca's column as an opening, I will try briefly here.

1. Furniture and interior decoration: The Reys lived in Paris, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles while writing the Curious George books. The illustrations are spot-on snapshots of the furniture and interior decoration of the era, always in fine and enduring taste. See the Man With the Yellow Hat's study -- the simple lines of his desk, the elegant wooden chairs, the wide pine floor.

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