Curious George Goes to the Hospital

Curious George Goes to the Hospital by Margaret and H.A. REY

Picture book for children ages 4-8

4 out of 5 stars

When George, the curious monkey, finds an unknown box in his house, he opens it and puts a piece from the box in his mouth thinking it might be candy. When it turns out to be a puzzle piece, George has to go to the hospital where he ends up causing mayhem due to his never ending curiosity.

Curious George Goes to the Hospital is a fun as well as informative story. Due to this opinion, the story can be read either the efferent or the aesthetic stances. If children enjoy books from the Curious George series and like to read these books just to laugh or connect with the character of George the monkey, then they would be reading from the aesthetic stance. In this stance, the reader is reading in order to connect with his or her personal feelings and emotions. In regards to this book, children can connect with George’s feelings of fear upon entering the hospital, his feelings of sadness when his friend leaves him in the hospital for the night, and his feelings of curiosity or temptation when seeing new objects, like an empty go-cart. Also, many children would enjoy this book because of its hilarity. Seeing George hop on a record player and spin round and round until he is going so fast that he flies off, is something that children would find hilarious while reading the story and seeing the illustration describing the event. On the other hand, this story can be read from an efferent stance, where the reader is looking to take away some new knowledge upon reading the story. In Curious George Goes to the Hospital many of the procedures that take place in a hospital are described. For example, when George is preparing to be x-rayed, the nurse describes to him what barium is and why he is swallowing it. Readers can learn about the happenings inside the hospital and the steps that are taken to remove a foreign object that is swallowed whole and lodged into the esophagus. According to Louise Rosenblatt these two stances typically do not stand alone, but often are read on a continuum between the two. In other words, readers will not be reading from either the aesthetic or the efferent stance, but they will be reading in a combination of the two, sometimes with more emphasis on one stance or the other.

The Curious George series of books is one of my favorite children’s series. In each book, George’s curiosity takes him on an adventure that typically ends up with him in some kind of accidental trouble. These adventures and the trouble he gets into make these books full of laugh-out-loud-fun. Now, as a pre-service teacher, I am learning an alternative purpose to reading these books. In Curious George Goes to the Hospital many hospital procedures are described. This could be used to teach students about the happenings inside hospitals as well as about different types of jobs people can have if they want to work in a hospital. I could read this book to my class just for pleasure or for a lesson. Some ideas for lessons other than to teach about medial professions and the inner workings of hospitals would be to have the children do a writing activity. In this writing activity, the students would each create a picture book of their own about an experience that they have had. They would also be encouraged to add new twists into their stories to make them funny as well. Regardless of whether this book is used for aesthetic or efferent purposes, it is something that will be used within my classroom.

Learn more about Curious George, his friends, and activities to do with this series by going to George's own website.