Hans Augusto Rey was born in 1898 in Hamburg, Germany. He grew up near the famous Hagenbeck Zoo where he cultivated a passion for animals. Hans married Margret Rey, his wife and co-author of many of his books in 1935. The couple moved to Paris and Hans wrote his first children’s book called Raffy and the Nine Monkeys. Out of this, came the character we all love and know to be Curious George! Shortly after starting the Curious George series, Hans and Margret were forced out of Germany due to the Nazi regime (Hans and Margret were both Jewish). They took off with nothing but some food, warm clothing, and manuscripts of the adventures of Curious George. They moved to Brazil and later New York City, where they began their careers as children’s book authors. Today these books have sold over 25 million copies, and have been made into board books, books for toddlers, and even have bilingual versions.
He has a really cool story, actually. It was very inspiring and made me more interested in the Curious George books, which I absolutely adored as a child.
Here's a link to the website: Curious About George?
Another fun website from PBS kids: PBS Kids: Curious George
I think that H.A. Rey's books are great, especially because they do come in a series, so if a child gets into them it will be easy to keep bringing them new ones. They are well written and have awesome, simple pictures.
They can connect to curriculum very easily, mainly because George gets into so many adventures that curious kids can get into these days! The book list is enormous. Curious George's First Day of School, Curious George Rides a Bike, Curious George Goes to the Hospital...Any of his adventures would do. We could bring it into a unit on monkeys, or even a unit on getting into trouble and obeying parents and teachers alike!
That website is really cool! I tested out the games, I think younger children would have a blast with it! =)
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