As I've stated before, one of my non-art jobs is as a one on one to an autistic 6 year old child in a special ed classroom. We've been on a Curious George marathon this week in preparation for a special event at a bookstore. Everyone is familiar with little mischief makin monkey George and his caretaker, the man in the yellow hat. The man consistently leaves George on his own somewhere and chaos ensues. But in the end, all is forgiven. Why, my fellow employees and I ask, has the man in the yellow hat never been brought before child protective services or maybe the ASPCA? Or perhaps the Food and Game Adminis. for illegal possession and smuggling of a wild animal into the country. Of course, for the same reason that Jack of beanstalk fame was not arrested for stealing, and the Emperor was not charged with public nudity. You've got to forgive us. There are 35 books in the series and we read at least half of them. He's cute but not that cute!! I found much worse while doing my online research on the authors H.A. and Margaret Rey... a parody where "the man" takes George into a pawnshop. George picks up a weapon, stabs the man, and ends up in jail (again) for murder. You've probably heard about how the illustrator/author couple H.A. and Margaret Rey , originally Germans, met and married while living in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. I guess that's where they first got acquainted with monkeys..They moved to Paris after honeymooning there..not a bad life so far. They fled on bicycles the morning of June 13, 1940 , as the Germans entered the city, taking only some clothing and their manuscripts and sketches. Have you ever fantasized about what you would grab if you had to leave in a hurry. Thank goodness for flash drives...Eventually they ended up in that hipster haven, Greenwich Village, NYC. Margaret lived until 90, donating millions to charity in her final hometown, Cambridge, Boston. Oddly enough, she taught creative writing at Brandeis Univ., the school my own little mischief maker is attending now. Although she studied painting and photography at the famous Bauhaus school in Germany, she ended doing the writing and her husband did the pics...just goes to show that kids don't really care about fantastic and sophisticated illustrations. A good story that has that something special is a hard thing to teach. But even in this age of commercial and mass produced licensed characters, I hope a good tale can still make it's way to the surface! (illustration at top was only one of mine I could find that vaguely fit the post..imagine the bunny gone bad..maybe he met George in juvie..hope they were both rehabilatated.)
