ages 4-8

When the now iconic Man in the Big Yellow Hat warns Curious George,"now don't wander off and get into trouble," we know exactly what's about to happen instead (especially since he had already rushed off). Despite his good intentions, George adventures turn into misadventures: Dousing someone's campfire, getting lost with a galloping deer, and being sprayed by a skunk that George thought was a cat. As usual in these series (story by Margret Rey, with illustrations by a team in the style of the late H.A. Rey), George's curiosity also leads to some monkey heroics. He also learns how to get rid of skunk smell (a vat of tomato juice).

Given its forest setting, this is a somewhat quieter 'George book,' but there are soft forest and animal drawings and enough action for the small ones. Curious George is now "a registered trademark of the Houghton Mifflin," but the company encourages young readers to look for the 'original adventures about Curious George' by the Reys. 24 pages, with pencil and watercolor illustrations on each one.

All six of my children have loved Curious George books and I have to read them to them until they have memorized them. In this book George get in to mischief as usual but all ends up well in the end, of course.