bilbopooh's Full Review: Margret Rey - Curious George Rides
There are lots of different methods of transportation out there, and it seems that young children are often fascinated by all of them. When I was little, I loved perusing Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, a Richard Scarry book featuring all sorts of different types of vehicles. My favorite, as I recall, was a pickle-shaped car; I haven't seen too many of those! Curious George Rides, a board book that uses illustrations by H. A. Rey, doesn't have quite the variety of vehicles that Scarry's book has, but the little monkey has traveled in several different ways. Not bad considering that most monkeys restrict themselves to getting around on foot or swinging through the treetops!
Curious George fans will recognize several of the illustrations in this little book from George's adventures. There's the iconic illustration from Curious George Flies a Kite of the monkey clinging onto the string of a yellow and white striped kite for dear life as well as a picture of him soaring above town, suspended by a bunch of colorful balloons, one of my favorite scenes in the recent animated movie.
The book poses a series of questions about George's preferred forms of transportation. He rides one thing at the circus, another downtown, another up in the air... In all, there are nine specific modes of transportation that George employs in this book, and it could be more; for instance, there's no hot air balloon, but there is a Curious George book in which he rides a hot air balloon. The book could certainly be expanded to include things like airplanes, boats and horses, but it's a manageable length as it is.
Most of the pages have a backdrop of a particular single color: blue, green, yellow, red. Some are just a generic white. Three of the riding methods are in the air, while the other six are on land; I would have maybe replaced a couple of the land ones with a surfboard and a sailboat or something of that nature. Of course, the pictures are dependent on earlier illustrations, so there are limits to what could be included. It's sort of a stretch, too, to call a ball something you "ride," but I guess it's fair to say George rides around his room on a ball. I can't imagine he stays on it very long, though!
This series of board books includes one other somewhat educational book and two storybooks. I'd recommend the storybooks first, but Curious George Rides is great for tiny tots who love the character and can't get enough of cars, helicopters and other things that get people - and monkeys - from here to there.
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