by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 20, 2009

It's a mischievous little...plant? After H.A. Rey created "Curious George," he wrote another book about an entirely new jungle character - a carnivorous plant! It's harvested from the jungle by Doctor White. (Maybe we should call him "the man with the white hat"?) And unlike the stories in Rey's Curious George books - this one rhymes!

"Elizabite smiles at the sky.

There comes another passer-by..."

This book offers a fascinating new perspective on H.A. Rey's humor. Just like in "Curious George," there's a wild creature making trouble when the adults leave the room. But how much trouble could a smiling plant get into? Lots of it - especially if you turn your back on it!

"'She's caught me - Ouch!' cries Doctor White,
'I did not know this plant could bite.'"

It's a funny surprise that keeps recurring. When Dr. White tries to pluck the plant from the ground, it bites his finger. In fact, Elizabite is first seen smiling while a mosquito passes by - while the next page offers a funny follow-up drawing, of a startled mosquito in the plant's mouth. And while the plant is munching happily on a hot dog, the same hot dog is being eyed by the doctor's terrier. The angry plant snaps while the dog scampers away - and Elizabite ends up with the dog's fur in her mouth.

"A sudden snap - a cry - a wail -
And there goes Scotty minus tail!"

H. A. Rey's drawings were always funny. (The plant closes its eyes proudly, and later a stuffy professor arrives with a white beard and pin-striped suit.) Dr. White builds a yellow tree-sized pen around the plant - with three rows of barbed wire, and a sign that says "Danger!" And when the professor leans towards the plant - it tries to eat his beard!

The plant's chained in the back yard, and smiles with delight when a stranger tries to break into their house. ("This burglar does not realize the danger of his enterprise...") The next morning they find his gun and his knife on the sidewalk - along with his legs sticking out of the plant's mouth. The police rescue the captured criminal, and then drive the plant to a nearby zoo. In fact, "Elizabite" ends exactly as "Curious George" does.

Except this time the lion and tiger in the adjacent cages turn their backs and look frightened.

It was 20 years before "Little Shop of Horrors," but there's many funny resemblances. The plant's red bulb head creates a smiling mouth when it opens. And in the zoo at the end of the book, Elizabite has already spawned four smaller plants.

No wonder the tiger is nervous!

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