As we and the various children in our lives look forward to the release of new productions in the Curious George franchise – an animated film featuring the voice of Will Ferrell and a new TV series for pre-schoolers airing on PBS next year – YA readers (ahem) curious of the whys and wherefores of the impish primate can get the real scoop in The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey, a biography by Louise Borden to be released by Houghton Mifflin on Sept. 26. Featuring reproductions of photographs, transit documents, and diary entries, the book delves into the biographical details of the original books’ creators, German Jews Margret and H.A. Rey, and describes their little-known and miraculous escape from wartorn Europe via France, Spain, Portugal, and Brazil. A pivotal point in the book sees the couple fleeing Paris with the manuscript of Curious George, or Fifi, as he was then named, on makeshift bicycles handmade by H.A. Rey. And you thought the monkey had adventures!

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