In 1965 the Reys collaborated with Children’s Hospital in Boston for their last Curious George book, Curious George Goes to the Hospital. In this story, George’s adventures and antics not only made children more comfortable in a hospital setting and with hospital procedures, it made children laugh. Nat Scrimshaw and his brothers would visit Hans in his studio the summer he was working on illustrations for Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Hans quoted the Scrimshaw boys in a signed copy he presented to Nat: “Maybe every children’s hospital should have a monkey.”
Nat Scrimshaw’s chalk-talks are now well known throughout New England and the world. He has done chalks talks in Thailand, Australia and Indonesia. By taking Chalk Talks to hospitals, we bring, if not George himself, the spirit of this mischievous monkey to children who are so much in need of laughter.
A few notes on The Rey-style Hospital Chalk Talk Program
The format is very flexible and I can accommodate various sized groups and numbers of children. This not a formal presentation — I am not “talking” at the children for a long period of time. I focus on each child, drawing something they ask for, and then chat about topics that emerge from the drawing at a level that is appropriate for the age and attention of the child. I bring paper and crayons for children to draw as well, H.A.Rey books for children to peruse and a copy of “Curious George goes to the Hospital” for each child to keep. I encourage children to read, draw and play while I am drawing; each child has a different ability to focus and I try to work with this. What works well is if a longer period is set aside for the Chalk Talk and smaller groups of children cycle in. I usually do this in the play area that many Children’s Hospitals have. I can work 3-4 hours in this mode and have drawn up to sixty drawings in a session. I also can make visits to individual hospital rooms for children who cannot leave their beds. You should think about what best fits your needs in terms of physical space, numbers of children and the hospital schedule, I will adapt. The Rey Foundation is a donor supported non-profit organization and our Hospital Chalk Talk program is offered free of charge. Please contact our Outreach Coordinator, Susan Schofield susan@reyfoundation.org – for scheduling and further information about this program.
