Close to as promised.  😉

The first edition of Cecily was published in Paris in 1939. The original title was Raffy and the 9 monkeys.  And that lovable monkey known as Curious George?  He was originally called Fifi.  In New York his name was changed to George because it was felt his name was too feminine.  An English version was published in London in 1941 in which he was renamed Zozo (the King at the time was King George the VI and I guess having a monkey named the same wasn’t looked upon highly. 🙂 )

I did not even know this book existed until I searched for 1940 children’s books and learned a little bit about the history of Curious George.  Here he is, with his family and Cecily G.:

I love the descriptions of the family of Monkeys.  What one word would you pick to describe yourself?   Curious? Clever? Good? Brave? Kind? Strong? or a different one entirely?

After a short introduction to the monkey family we meet Cecily, who is very sad her whole family is gone to live at a zoo.  She wants someone to play with.

One day she saw some monkeys that needed help crossing a deep ravine.  She became a bridge and the animals became friends.

I love the innovative ways the giraffe helps and the clever writing in this book.  A beautiful book of friendship and using our talents to help others.

Of all the fun images in this book, the next two are so very playful and my favorites.  Love the giraffe bed:

and who would have thought to give a giraffe stilts.

Makes me laugh.  “…so high the page isn’t big enough to show all of her.”

This book would not be complete without a giraffe-clef and monkey-note song to finish up with:

There is plenty more to the story – so check it out from your library and enjoy the fun-lovin’ nature of Cecily and Curious George.  I love that Curious George went on to become one of the most loved literary characters of the time – and ours!

The 1940 census records are now released and ready to index.  🙂  Hoo-ray!!!

Are you curious where we’ve started indexing?  Jim Bob is working on Kansas records (because they are highest priority) and I have a batch of records from New Hampshire.  (I’ve always liked states that started with New.)  I’m excited for when more Western States are added.

Are you curious how you can help?  Sign up to be an indexer here:  1940 Census Project.

Curious about this week’s contest?  Here are the details from the site – Weekly Contest – Week of April 2:

{  If you haven’t already, you must first visit the Games and Prizes page of the 1940 Blog to register for all project contests.  Then, follow the additional steps below to qualify for this week’s prize.

 Start Indexing the 1940 U.S. Census:

• If you haven’t already, download the indexing software.
• Complete at least one 1940 U.S. Census batch by Sunday, April 8 11:59 p.m. MST.

That’s all you have to do!  If you need a little help, check out this video about how to index the 1940 U.S. Census. One qualified entrant will be chosen at random to win an Amazon Kindle Fire.  }

I can personally let you know that the contests work.  I won a $50 Visa gift card last week… how fun is that?

To encourage your curiosity here is a little history.

Curious George (one of my very favorite books) was first published in 1941.  It is written by a husband/wife team:  H.A. and Margret Rey.  Although for a while only H.A. received credit because they wanted to distinguish themselves from the many female authors of children’s books at the time.  H. A. and Margret both grew up as Jews in Germany.  They later met in Brazil – H.A. was working there as a salesman and Margret had moved to Brazil to escape Nazism.  (Although some sources say they knew each other in Germany before and Hans originally met Margret as a young girl when she slid down the banister in her family’s home.  I kinda like that story.)  They married in Brazil and had two pet monkeys.  They moved to Paris in 1935 and wrote stories together.

In June 1940 the couple fled Paris on bicycles H.A. had made with spare parts.  While he assembled the bikes, Margret gathered their manuscripts and drawings.  They left Paris just a few hours before it fell to Nazi Germany.  They took the transcript of Curious George with them.  They returned to Brazil and then continued onto New York City, where Curious George was published a year later.  I didn’t know any of that history until I started looking for information about Curious George – knowing that it was one of the most popular children’s books in the 1940s.

I can definitely see why.  Who doesn’t know a young child that acts so similar to George?  That child-like innocence and curious nature are embodied in that little monkey.  I have also always loved the illustrations!

So carefree… always.

And oh-so-curious.

The floating over the city picture has always been one of my favorites.

Nothing like a friend in a yellow hat… and a happy ending.

(for now… they did publish 7 Curious George books.  😉 )

Did you know that there was actually a book by the Reys that came out before Curious George that featured him?  It was published in France and he was known as Fifi.  It was later published in the U.S.   Curious?  I’ll show photos tomorrow.

In the meantime… happy indexing!  🙂

{As part of the1940census.com ambassador program this blog post enters me into a drawing for a yeti microphone or gift cards.}