Okay – Time to move to another one of my favorite children’s authors or in this case a husband and wife pair of authors/illustrators.
H.A. and Margret Rey.
Yes the creators of our beloved Curious George, among other wonderful characters.
H.A. and Margret were both born in Germany, to Jewish parents and were VERY well educated. H.A., before he was 20 had studied and could speak relatively well 5 languages, and learned more in adulthood. As a youngster he loved to draw and paint and would spend many hours doing so. Margret wanted to become an artist and studied art and photography at the famous Bauhaus in Germany.
H.A served Germany during World War 1 as a solider. He didn’t like it, but like his beloved little monkey character, H. A. was curious. He love the stars and anything to do with astronomy! And while serving his time on the Eastern front he also picked up a “smattering of Russian.”
After the war, having trouble finding steady work, H. A. left Germany and headed to Brazil. He loved it there with all the colorful people, the sea, and of course the animals. His first job there was selling bathtubs and sinks! And he learned yet a 7th language!
Margret arrived in Brazil many years later before World War 2 and having known H.A.’s family in Germany, and admiring H.A, struck up a new relationship with him in Brazil. In August of 1935 they were married and they changed their last name from Reyersbach to something easier for people in their new country to remember – Rey. From then on they worked, wrote and traveled together. And at every stop along the way – they would document their journey and visit zoo’s and circuses whenever they could.
The rest of their history can be found – very well written in fact by Louise Borden in the book The Journey that Saved Curious George.
My youngest daughter, Zoe, became a big fan of one curious little monkey, almost from birth. She is now going on 9 years old and still cherishes her beat-up collection of Curious George stories. We know exactly when the bus is scheduled to come – Exactly 8 minutes after Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat leave the screen of the local PBS channel.
and when the movie came out several years ago. . . We HAD to be one of the first to see it at it’s noon premier at our local Rave movie theatre! And we had to have the stamps. Remember when stamps were just .39 cents?
The pair, H.A. and Margret, also penned and illustrated other books like:
More info on theses can be found here at the official Curious George/H.A. and Margret Rey website.
September 16th marks H.A.’s birthday and to honor him, Houghton Mifflin Books, is sponsoring Curiosity Day! I think I’m going to check to see if our local library plans on doing something! I’m sure Zoe will love it!
The Rey’s never had any children of their own. But what a love they must of had for them! To create such endearing characters and engaging stories, that children have loved for many, many years!
Take care. .
My eldest and youngest two children sharing a moment.
