Saw a really interesting article in The New York Times online version, “How Curious George Escaped the Nazis.” Having worked in a library, I saw dozens of Curious George books, but I didn’t know the author’s story. I always had a vague impression that H.A. Rey came from South American somewhere, or maybe Spain.
Turns out, H.A. and his wife Margaret, were German-born Jews. (Rey used to be Reyersbach.) Anyway, this article talks about a new book about the Reys called The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey and gives a pretty good summary of the Reys’ story.
This is right up there with the time I learned the Theodore Geissel (aka Dr. Seuss) used to draw propaganda cartoons during WWII.