Curious George Takes a Job
Curious George Takes a Job is a children's book written and illustrated by Margaret Rey and H. A. Rey and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1947. It is the second of the Curious George books and tells the story of George taking a job as a window washer.
 First edition | |
| Author | H. A. Rey Margret Rey |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Curious George |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 1947 |
| Media type | |
| Preceded by | Curious George |
| Followed by | Curious George Rides a Bike |
Plot
The book picks up where the first book ends. George is living in the zoo, until he gets a key from a zookeeper and escapes his cage. In the city, George enters a restaurant where he is caught eating a pot of spaghetti and forced by the cook to wash the dishes, but he does a splendid job. As a reward, the cook takes him to meet an elevator man, who gives him a job as a window washer for a tall apartment building. As George works, he observes many people in the different windows, such as a child refusing his supper and a man sleeping. Once he reaches the final window, he notices there is a room behind the final one being painted. George lets curiosity get to him again, he enters the apartment as the painters leave for lunch and decides to paint it for them.
An hour later, the painters return and see that George has given the room a jungle theme, including painting the furniture coverings as animals. Furious, the painters, the elevator man, and the lady owning the apartment chase him out of the room and down a fire escape. Other people join the chase as the after mentioned four got out. George thinks he will be home free when he jumps from the end of the fire escape's stairway. But forgetting how hard the road is, the jump causes him to break his leg. An ambulance soon arrives to take George to the hospital. As the others look on, the lady of the apartment remarks that the injury serves him right for ruining her apartment and the elevator man adds that he knew that George would get into trouble because he was too curious.
In the hospital, he unhappily lies in bed with his leg in a cast hanging above him. His incident makes the front page a local paper, of which the Man with the Yellow Hat sees, so he is off to the hospital to claim him.
Once George's leg has healed, he climbs out of bed and winds up tampering with a bottle of ether and passes out. The Man with the Yellow Hat, the doctor and the nurse find him and, manage to bring him around after putting him under a cold shower. Afterwards, George is taken to a movie studio to film a movie about his life, which he and all of the townsfolk he met later come to watch in the theater.
Reception
The book has received reviews from publications including School Library Journal,[1] Kirkus Reviews,[2] The New Yorker,[3] and New York Herald Tribune.[4]
References
- Mcelmeel, Sharron (April 1983). "Curious George takes a job". School Library Journal. 29 (1): 46.
- "Curious George Takes a Job". Kirkus Reviews. June 15, 1947. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
- Galchen, Rivka (June 3, 2019). "The Unexpected Profundity of Curious George". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- Curious George takes a job. OCLC 16318301.