What you need to know before reading Curious George Flies A Kite with a kid
The book is the third in the series after Curious George and Curious George Takes a Job. It was written by H.A. and Margaret Rey and first published in 1966. The plot is straightforward: George gets hold of a kite, winds up tangled in it, and causes a minor city-wide incident before getting everything sorted. That is basically the entire summary. I have read this book probably sixty times over the years. Not because it is some profound literary work, but because my kid wanted it every night for eight months straight. Here is what actually matters when you are working with it.
Curious George Flies A Kite and what happens when things go wrong
The kite scene is where most parents hit a wall. George climbs a lamppost with the kite. He gets stuck. The wind picks up. The kite drags him through traffic, over cars, across rooftops. The man with the yellow hat eventually rescues him. Simple enough. The problem is the pacing. The illustrations span maybe twelve full-page spreads, and each one is dense. There are background characters doing things in every panel. A kid who actually looks at the pictures will spend five to ten minutes just scanning one spread instead of listening to the story. If your child is six or under, plan for a twenty-minute read. Not the four minutes the text technically takes. I learned this the hard way. One evening I rushed through it in under five minutes because I was tired. My daughter stopped me mid-sentence and pointed at a tiny guy in a window on page nine. She had noticed him on every previous reading and wanted to talk about him. I had skipped past him eighteen times. Lesson: let the kid drive the picture hunt. Do not try to power through.
How to actually use this book
Stop treating it like a bedtime story that needs to end. It works better as a conversation starter about cause and effect. George makes a choice to climb the pole. The wind does its thing. The kite becomes a liability. Those are real concepts disguised as cartoon chaos. Ask your kid what George should have done before climbing. Let them say "wait for dad" or "tie the string to something." They will give you answers that are logically sound even if they sound silly. Then ask what happens when the wind gets stronger. The kite pulls. George goes with it. That is physics without you saying the word physics. After the rescue scene, which runs about halfway through the book, there is a quiet moment where George and the man walk home. Use that pause. Ask what George is thinking. You will get weird answers. That is good.
Get the Full Details
Where to get it
You can buy the hardcover from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any bookstore. It is still in print as of 2025. The ISBN is 978-0395981670. Used copies float around on eBay and ThriftBooks for two to four dollars if you do not mind a beat-up spine. The Kindle edition exists and costs about eight dollars, which feels steep for a picture book with no added features. Skip the e-reader version unless your kid reads on a tablet anyway. The paper lets you flip back and point at specific panels, which is the whole point of this book. Audible has an audiobook version narrated by Martin Short. It is roughly twenty-five minutes. I have not listened to it myself, but my coworker said it is fine and not annoying. Your mileage may vary.
What the book does not do well
It does not teach patience directly. The narrative rewards impulsive behavior with adventure. George ignores advice, breaks a traffic rule, and gets a rescue. There is no scene where he sits down and thinks about checking the weather first. Some parents find that problematic. I find it realistic for a monkey and acceptable for a four-year-old who will not sit still anyway. The book also assumes access to a park or open space. The kite flying scenes work in the text, but if your kid asks to go fly a kite immediately after reading, you are now committed to that. I have stood in parking lots on weekday afternoons holding a dollar-store kite while a monkey-themed book lay open in the car. It happens. Another issue: the wind mechanics in the story are cartoon logic. George gets lifted off a lamppost by a kite. That is not how wind and kites work. If your kid is old enough to ask why a monkey weighs more than a kite string, do not pretend the book is a science manual. Tell them it is a cartoon and move on.
Similar books if this one wears out
Curious George Goes to the Hospital covers medical anxiety with the same tone. Curious George Wins Again deals with competitive behavior. Both are useful in different contexts. The entire series runs about forty titles, and most of them are worth keeping around because they handle behavioral topics without talking down to kids. If you want something outside the series that covers similar ground, There's a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher has a monkey character and deals with imagination in a way that does not rely on a established IP. It is aimed at slightly older readers, seven plus, but the concept translates.
Bottom line
Curious George Flies A Kite is a solid mid-tier entry in the series. It is not the deepest book they made, and it is not the one kids remember most vividly. They usually remember the train ride one or the circus one better. But the kite book earns its place because it introduces consequence without being preachy about it. Read it slowly. Let the pictures do the work. Do not rush it. That is all there is to it.
