I was first introduced to Curious George George when I was about 5 years old. I would constantly look for those big yellow books and read them endlessly as a kid. George was created by Margret and H.A. Rey in the early 1940's.

His popularity leaps generations because everyone I know enjoys him. If you've never heard of george, he's a cartoon monkey that lives with the man with a yellow hat and is always curious. His curiosity always leads him into tons of trouble.













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The Reys This article came from The Times Picayune Newspaper (written prior to Margret Reys' death): Before Curious George, there was Zozo the chimp. Or was it Coco? As she turns 90, Margret Rey can be excused for forgetting the particulars. "It was something very foolish. One of those cutesy names," Rey said in a recent interview, retelling the story of how the children's classic about a naughty monkey came into being. The seven Curious George books have sold 12.5 million copies.

An anthology of the seven issued last year, "The Complete Adventures of Curious George," is in its second printing. After their marriage, she and her husband, Hans Augusto Rey, settled in Paris, where they collaborated on the 1939 book "Rafi et les Neuf Singes" (translates to: Rafi and the Nine Monkeys). One of the "Nine Monkeys" of the title was a prototype for George. They fled France in 1940, just ahead of Nazi forces, and moved to the United States. Houghton Mifflin Co. bought "Curious George" during their first week in the United States. It was published in 1941, and the Reys wrote seven Curious George books over the next 25 years. "He became very much a figure of his own. He knew what he could do and couldn't do. He became a person," Margret Rey said.