One of Alex’s favorite books of late is the original Curious George. George is one of my own favorite children’s characters, and the book is very cute. But, wow. Children’s literature has changed since 1941. I have a hard time imagining a children’s book being published today in which the main character is: captured in Africa and forced onto a ship, smokes a pipe to relax, gets thrown into jail, and is finally taken to live in a zoo as his happy ending – and not one of these events is portrayed as frightening or something to be avoided.
I guess we aren’t in 1941 anymore.
joyful girl 
We have the original book and I have the same reaction – there really is nothing like curious george being published these days. Lil has had trouble processing the idea of george’s capture because she thinks he would be sad to be taken away from his home. She also asks lots of questions about jail and being put in jail and running away from police men. Once she asked “if you escape from jail and the policemen don’t catch you, will Barack Obama get you?”
So, does she think that the president is the ultimate law enforcement officer? 🙂 Alex hasn’t asked many questions about it yet, but she does look at the cover art with George being dragged off to jail and comments on him looking sad.