Logical Situations in Fiction

Did you know that the Curious George Stories, written by Margaret and H.A. Rey, were inspired by many real-life circumstances the writers went through as they escaped from France in 1940?  Remember how Curious George always made it out of a sticky situation by the skin of his teeth?  Well, that’s exactly how life was for the Reys when they were fleeing France as the Nazis took control over the country. I know this because I went to The Jewish Museum’s Exhibit, “Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margaret and H.A. Rey” this past weekend when I was in NYC.

My husband and I were in Manhattan, for Mother’s Day, and went to the museum with our parents.  My mother-in-law, who is a literacy coach, and I were both captivated by one of the pieces of artwork in the exhibit, which included a quote from one of the Reys.  We vowed to share it with kids who are writing fiction going-forward.  But first, I wanted to share the gist of it with you.

As you know, Curious George is a bit different than monkeys in the wild or monkeys we see in the zoo.  He has adventures that normal monkeys would never have.  However, despite the fact that Curious George does very unusual, daring things, the Reys always tried to make their stories logical.  The example in the exhibit was about one of their books which included a giraffe.  The Reys pointed out that the giraffe in the story had a very tall house so he could fit inside.  Everything in the story that dealt with the giraffe was written in a logical way so that readers would be able to hold on to the story and make it fit inside their mind.  While the Reys’ stories were fictional, they always made sure to keep things logical since they knew children wouldn’t connect with their stories if things didn’t fit or make sense.

So, the tip here is that when we’re speaking with students about their fiction writing, it’s important to remind them to keep perspective so that their stories make sense.  Yes, one can let their imagination run wild, but they have to make sure there are some boundaries in their writing so that readers are more apt to believe what they’re writing and stay with the story until the end.

The “Curious George Saves the Day” Exhibit is open awhile longer at the Jewish Museum, which is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.  A special event for the exhibit is taking place this Sunday, May 16th.  Educator materials for the exhibit are available by clicking here.  Finally, if you can’t make it to New York, but are interested in viewing the exhibit’s interactive time line, then click here.