Tracey Bunce and Christie Leszczynski CURR 438 Author Study – Margret and H.A. Rey Due: 11/27/2012
Margret and H.A. Rey are well known authors of the popular children’s series starring Curious George. What is not so well known about them is why these books and others they have written contain the themes that they do. Margret and H.A. Rey had a very rich and tumultuous life before publishing their first children’s book. Their Jewish heritage during an age of war against Jews and the subsequent escape by bike to safety inspired a lot of George’s narrow escapes from trouble after being too curious. They are husband and wife and also a fully self-dependent author illustrator team. The illustrations across all of their books reflect a Each book was made entirely by this couple from their own imagination. H.A. Rey demonstrates an even further curiosity of the world around him with his story about the stars. When he was in the army, he often spent nights looking up at the sky trying to identify constellations. He found them fascinating, but hard to find and set out to make a new way to look at these star formations. He used his already creatively artistic mind to write: “The Stars,” a book containing picture illustrations to aide in the visualization of constellations. This is a book that many people are familiar with and use the images from without knowing that it came from this very author. He gets less credit for it than deserved, as it has lived on well past his initial publication and still proves to be useful in today’s social technologically advanced culture. His personal passion for this subject bursts from every page with attention to every detail and brings the stars to life. Margret and H.A. Rey have a particular style throughout all of their stories, especially with plot and illustrations. Generally, the story plot starts out in a new place, the character is curious and explores the place a bit more than he should, and then needs to be saved by another character and learns a particular lesson about that place. For the illustrations, their initial ones started out as watercolor, but when fleeing
