by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 18, 2009

There's a secret message in this book. It was 2003, and the original creators of Curious George had already died. But new books with the monkey continued appearing, based on stories from a TV cartoon that ran in the 1980s. One of the last ones was "Curious George Visits the Library." And when George pokes his head into a shelf of books, he's surrounded by several books with a familiar yellow spine. And the books' titles on their spine show that they're ABOUT Curious George. ("Curious George Rides a Bike," "Curious George Goes to the Hospital.") And some of the other books are a secret shout-out to the other titles by Margaret and H.A. Rey - like "Cecily G and the Monkeys" or "Whiteblack the Penguin."

Is the book any good? The monkey's still just as mischievous as ever. But this book tries to send a positive message about the wonders of your public library. "He was a good little monkey, and always very curious," the first page tells us. And today the man with the yellow hat is taking George to pick out some books. There's smiles everywhere, with lots of people reading and "George had never seen so many books before." They're setting a good example - but George is delighted that the librarian is reading stories out loud for children's hour - including one that's about a bunny.

"George liked bunnies."

George gets impatient when the librarian reads a book about a train. (Instead, he wants her to read the book about a dinosaur!) A clever series of four drawings show the monkey fidgeting through different poses, and finally sneaking up to the table to the librarian's table. "Look, a monkey!" shouts a little girl. But the librarian just tells her to speak quietly in the library - and soon her dinosaur book has disappeared as George vanishes around a corner.

But the library is so wonderful that more books catch the monkey's eye. There's one about trucks, and elephants, and airplanes - but fortunately, George finds a library cart to move all his selections. And his library also has a ramp. A cart and a ramp? What else would a monkey do?

"Come back here with my cart!" shouts a library vounteer.

There's a big crash - into a shelf of encyclopedias - with lots of startled library patrons. But the children from story hour flock to the pile of books, and soon everyone is at work re-stocking the shelves, including the curious monkey himself! George even gets his own library card at a special desk - with some help from the friendly young volunteer. There's nine people smiling and waving as the happy monkey leaves with an armful of stories. "Enjoy your books!" the librarian calls out.

And he did, the last page tells us.

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