Readers Love Curious George. I Fell in Love with the Author’s Astronomy Books

His book The Stars A New Way to See Them is highly recommended. If you ever wanted to learn the constellations, THIS is the book. As per the TFA, he replaces those crazy drawings of fish and gods, and the abstract line-connected dots, with cartoon like stick figure drawings that convey the images of the named constellations. His pictures greatly enhance your ability to find, and to learn, the constellations. I could only find one example of his constellations drawings to give you an idea of his approach [1].

[1]. http://codex99.com/illustration/the-stars.html

I learned the constellations this way, and feel I never would have learned them otherwise. I've since bought a copy of this this book for each of my children and plan to do the same for my grandchildren if/when they arrive.

Side note: What a joy it is to know the constellations! Once you know them, they cannot be unseen. You will recognize them at different elevations, or when they are tilted at an angle. You will see them appear and disappear with the changing seasons. When you travel, you will be surprised to find the familiar constellations in different places, or at different times of the night from what you are used to. It is one more part of the natural world that shouldn't be missed.

I never put the two together but still have one of the astronomy books from when I was a kid!

Rey and his wife escaped the Nazis on bicycles:

From the article:

> They fled in June 1940, just as German troops were closing in on the French capital, escaping on bicycles cobbled together from spare parts. They carried with them only their clothes and a satchel full of early George drawings. They made their way to Spain and eventually to Portugal; in Lisbon they caught a steamer to Brazil, and from there continued to New York. (Their story is also the subject of Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s charming 2017 documentary, Monkey Business, which also looks at the Reys’ lives more broadly.)

In his video "Top Beginner's Astronomy Books", Ed Ting lists this book (6m34s), amongst others:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhbAEx2le7o

Plugging for a good cause - for parents who want to teach their younger kids the very basics of our solar system, we made this: https://littleastronauts.com/product/a-trip-through-the-sola...