The Journey That Saved Curious George
The Journey That Saved Curious George:
The True Wartime Escape of Margaret and
H.A. Rey
By Louise Borden
Illustrated by Allan Drummond
80 pages
Reviewed by Catherine MacLennan
Who would have guessed that playful Curious George had anything to do with the Nazi invasion of Paris? Louise Borden recounts the more serious adventures of George's creators in The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margaret and H.A. Rey.
With an upbeat tone, Borden tells the tale in a style that will not shock Curious George's readers and rather echoes the Curious George books' simplicity:
”During World War I, he was a soldier in Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany army. Hands didn't like the war, and he didn't like being a soldier.”
”Nine years after Hans left Hamburg, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Life began to change for the German people, especially for Germans who were Jewish.”
Borden traces Hans and Margarete's zigzag movements, from countries to continents that began for both with childhoods in Germany. Margarete leaves Germany to work as a photographer in London. Hans left for Brazil nine years earlier. Margarete left London to go to Rio de Janeiro, knowing that Hans, a family friend, was there. Both artists worked together, and then married. A honeymoon to Paris turns into a stay for four years. They escaped from wartime Paris in a hurry, on bicycles, with just a few possessions, including the Curious George manuscript. They go to Rio again briefly, then board a ship for New York City, finally settling in America.
Allan Drummond's illustrations, with their quick lines and bright colours are reminiscent of the paintings of Raoul Dufy and the illustrations of Jules Feiffer and are an equally cheerful complement to Borden's text.
Not just about the story of their escape, the book is a small collage of the artists' lives and work. Along with Drummond's drawings, the book includes photographs of the Margaret and Hans, excerpts from their books, photographs of where they lived, letters, diary pages and passport pages. There is also interesting background material for Curious George fans: it appears the “Man in the Yellow Hat” may have originated with the broad hat that Hans wore in Brazil; the affection for monkeys also started in Brazil (they had monkeys as pets in their apartment, and tried to bring them to Europe, but they did not survive, despite Margarete knitting sweaters for them); and “George” was conceived as French monkey, named "FiFi."
The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margaret and H.A. Rey is a charming and informative book that will appeal to both children and adults.