Furious George Goes Bananas

May 3, 2010
Rex, creator of the Margaret Wise Brown parodies The Runaway Mummy and Goodnight Goon, takes on the Rey franchise in this escapade. His protagonist’s resemblance to Curious George is only in the details, since Furious George is a huge purple gorilla captured by an opportunist in a pith helmet. The “man in the funny hat,” a craven alter ego to Rey’s fatherly Man in the Yellow Hat, does not care for his captive. He peddles George to a zoo, construction site, Broadway show, and lab, growing richer by the sale. In a running gag that takes aim at the Rey books, he repeatedly refers to Furious George as a monkey, something each buyer attempts to correct. “e ain’t a monkey, he’s an ape,” notes the construction foreman. “A monkey got a tail.” (Like Curious George, Furious doesn’t have one.) Enraged at being locked up, having to lay bricks, etc., Furious George “goes bananas” several times, though Rex makes it clear he’s not destructive by nature—he just wants to get home, which he eventually accomplishes. Rex preserves Rey’s comic-strip palette and earnest tone, while humorously delivering a message about avarice. Ages 5–8.

June 1, 2010
K-Gr 2-This "primate parody" from the creator of "Goodnight Goon" (2008) and "The Runaway Mummy" (2009, both Putnam) reworks Curious George as "a great big ape" who turns furious each time he gets a new job. While Rex's earlier titles drew laughs by adhering closely to the originals, this one takes a broader approach. It starts like the "Curious George" books when "a man in a funny hat" captures the creature in the jungle, but this man tries to get rich, selling the ape to a zoo, a construction foreman, and others. Each time the greedy guy pockets the cash, George gets angry and scares everyone away. When he's finally sold to a scientist for a trip to outer space, he traps his former owner and his money in the rocket ship, then hitches a ride on the outside of the craft and parachutes back home. Visual references to H. A. Rey's books, such as a bike crash and a balloon flight, are too subtle to have much impact, so the humor mostly depends on the repeated refrain of "George was furious!" and the accompanying spreads showing him wreaking havoc. Digitally colored cartoon pencil drawings capture the silliness but don't inject enough personality to raise the title beyond the one-joke concept. The clever title and the popularity of Rex's other books may draw interest, but without a more direct tie-in to the originals, this effort might make George's fans go bananas."Steven Engelfried, Multnomah County Library, OR"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.