''Curious George Goes to the Hospital'' is a children's picture book written and illustrated by

Margret Rey Margret Elizabeth Rey (born Margarete Elisabeth Waldstein; May 16, 1906 – December 21, 1996) was a German-born American writer and illustrator, known best for the ''Curious George'' series of children's picture books that she and her husband H. ...

and

H. A. Rey Hans Augusto (H.A.) Rey (né Reyersbach; September 16, 1898 – August 26, 1977) was a German-born American illustrator and author, known best for the ''Curious George'' series of children's picture books that he and his wife Margret Rey create ...

and published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

in 1966. It is the seventh and final book in the original

Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original book series. Geor ...

series, and tells the story of George's experiences in a hospital after swallowing a puzzle piece (from a

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In th ...

). The book was inspired by employees at the

Boston Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...

, who reached out to the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

-based Reys to ask for help in getting children to prepare for going to the hospital.

Plot

George wakes up to find a box labeled "surprise" on the desk, it contains a jigsaw puzzle. George opens the box, takes a puzzle piece out and, thinking it is a piece of candy, he swallows it. The Man with the Yellow Hat comes home and tells George that the puzzle is a present for him. They both assemble the puzzle, but notice that the last piece is missing. Unable to find the missing piece, they go to bed. The next morning, George has a stomachache and is unable to eat his breakfast. Worried, the Man calls the doctor. The doctor is unable to determine the problem and recommends that George should go to the hospital. The Man reassures George at the hospital, reminding him of being here before when he broke his leg (referencing back to

Curious George Takes a Job ''Curious George Takes a Job'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Margaret Rey and H. A. Rey and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1947. It is the second of the Curious George books and tells the story of George taking a job as a wind ...

). George is given a barium drink from a nurse and then taken to the x-ray room. The taken x-ray reveals the puzzle piece lodged in George's stomach, the Man with the Yellow Hat realizes that the last piece was missing because George had swallowed it. The doctor then tells George that a small operation is needed to remove it, and he has to stay for a few days. He reveals that a tube is needed to take the puzzle piece out of George's stomach. Later, George is admitted to the waiting room where they meet Betsy and her mother. Betsy is scared and worried because this is her first time in a hospital. George meets a nurse named Carol, who takes him to the children's ward where George's temperature and blood pressure are recorded, and he is given a pill and a shot to put him to sleep then wheeled into

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

. After surgery, George is groggy and does not want to read a new book the Man brings him, and goes back to sleep. When George wakes up the third day, he eats some ice cream, then is taken to the playroom. It is here where he starts to break Betsy out of her funk, first by putting on a puppet show using all four of his limbs for each puppet, getting her to crack a smile for the first time, then he later stands on a

record player A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, turns it on, and goes spinning around faster and faster before he goes flying of it into some pillows, making Betsy crack a smile again. Later, he sees that Steve, a boy with a cast on his leg, is trying to walk. With no one looking, George hops into Steve's wheelchair (called a go-cart in the book for some reason) and races down the corridors. By the time the nurse notices, George is heading down a steep ramp towards the hospital cafeteria. There, a couple of attendants are seen pushing food carts and the mayor is being shown around the hospital. George crashes into the carts and lands in the mayor's arms, while spilling food and breaking the wheelchair and the dishes. The children see the accident and the first to laugh is Betsy. This gets the rest of the kids laughing, and eventually everyone laughing...except George who cries, thinking he might be punished. Betsy runs down and consoles George, telling him that he has cheered her up. The adults agree George is not in trouble because he made Betsy no longer feel afraid, and the Man arrives to take him home. Before they leave, Nurse Carol gives George a package to take home. At home George finds it to be the puzzle piece he swallowed, he is happy that the doctor and nurse had saved it for them. Now able to finish the puzzle, he and the Man place the last missing piece in the center of it. The now-completed puzzle reveals to be a picture of George on the grass of the jungle with the Man's yellow hat in front of him.

Notes

References

* {{Curious George 1966 children's books American picture books Curious George Houghton Mifflin books Works set in hospitals