My 5 year-old son adores Curious George. That could even be an under-statement. We read his books nightly, watch the show daily and listen to the film soundtrack regularly. The books about Curious George resonate with my son and millions of children around the world and promote a sense of exploration like no other.
Fortunately, for me, I got to preview a new exhibit at the Jewish Museum today called Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margaret and H.A. Rey that will run from March 14th to August 1st. From now on, I will read the books by these two special people in an entirely different light. Author Margaret and illustrator H.A. Rey had the most interesting lives and it comes alive in this well curated exhibit. The exhibit contains original photos, journals, passports, letters, illustrations, drawings, watercolors and an amazing interactive time-line that detail their escape from France right before Nazism took over. The couple, both born Jewish, fled on bicycles carrying drawings from their stories, including one about a curious monkey called Fifi who later became George. Not only did they save their drawings, but they themselves were saved by these same illustrations when authorities found them in their belongings and they served as proof of occupation in order to obtain American visas. After their escape from Paris and a four-month journey across France, Spain, Portugal and Brazil, the couple fled to New York in 1940.
A lot of the stories about George involve escaping the zoo, the hospital, a fire. This exhibit reconstructs the Rey’s path to freedom and their own escape. Saving the day after their own narrow escape became the premise and inspiration for the 30 books they would author later, with many of them starring our hero, Curious George. There is a special reading room that my son will love when we go together in a few weeks.
I had the pleasure of exploring the exhibit with people who knew the Reys. There was a couple who had met Margaret Rey on a mission to Israel and celebrated many birthdays with her. I met the literary executor of their estate who talked so fondly of them and the Curious George Foundation which funds programs that benefit children, as well as animals.
The Jewish Museum will offer a variety of family activities in conjunction with the Curious George exhibition. On Sunday, May 16th, from 12-4pm, the Jewish Museum will host Family Day with art workshops, gallery tours; on Sunday, July 11th, they will be hosting Milkshake in concert; there will be art workshops on Sundays, April 11th and May 2nd; a family workshop for children with special needs on Sunday, April 25th; drop-in art workshops Sundays through August 1st and Tuesdays in July; Art Adventure Monday gallery tours and activities from July 12th to August 16th; and self-guided family tours every day.
To celebrate Curious George Saves the Day, the Jewish Museum is teaming up with the Culture Mom Blog to offer one lucky winner a pair of passes to visit the exhibit anytime. They can also be used the day of the Curious George Family Day.
TO ENTER:
*Share with us your child’s favorite Curious George book or something funny he/she has learned from the stories in the comment section below
OR
*Tweet about the giveaway (remember to include @culturemomblog in your post so I see it!)
OR
*Become a member of this blog.
***FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES, DO ANY COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE.***
Winners will be chosen on Friday, March 26th, at 12pm.
Disclosure: These Jewish Museum tickets were provided to me, free of charge, with no requirement or agreement of review requested in turn.
Also, the opinions in the review above are based on the experience that I had today while reviewing the exhibit.
Hi Culture Mom,
I wish I lived in NY! I'd love to see this exhibit. A bit far from Denver…
Found you on twittermoms! Hope you'll come see me!
What fun! We love "Curious George Goes to the Beach", because a beach-going friend packed so much extra lunch in her basket and was able to share with George, who had–curiously–shared all of his friends' picnic provisions with the plucky birds. We all should have such a fairy godmother when our kids are tired and hungry and we come up shorthanded in the food department. By inspiring her timid daughter to swim George had helped them, too.
I love reading the Curious George books to my nephew Max because they teach him that it's okay to be curious and important to be a good boy/monkey.
My niece IS Curious George she is just now discovering the stories and identifies with George in so many ways…what fun!
lghk1997@yahoo.com
Lily loves Curious George…especialy the one where he goes to the beach. Lily is a total water baby as am I, so the beach speaks to us!
I really enjoyed reading your post, very personal and interesting.
I love reading Curious George books with my kids. Our favorites are the one with George in the ice cream store (a dream of all of ours to make an ice cream sundae like that) and the one in the hospital. I also remember when I was a kid, I learned how to make paper boats out of newspaper after reading a Curious George book where he does that and the book offered instructions.
My husband read his favorite story to the kids: "Curious George goes to the Hospital". The kids loved it. Little Eva liked it so much that she asked for an X-Ray for her 3rd birthday! One frightful day we did have to take Eva to the hospital, but George showed her that even though it was scary, it was going to be all right.
I tweeted the giveaway. How cool would it be for me to see the Jewish Museum when I come to NYC for BlogHer!?
I love Curious George goes to the Aquarium. We have a ton of the books. My son loves to read them!
Ulkieab at gmail dot com
I am now following your blog!
Ulkieab at gmail dot com
For years, my son called The Man with the Yellow Hat — The Yellow Man with a Hat. Every time we read one of the stories, that's all I can think of. I think he may still think the man is yellow!
Congratulations to NYNancy! My son selected her name in a random drawing and she's won two tickets to this wonderful exhibit!