Cold-Case! Curious George Discovers Germs by Erica Zappy

Curious George is always happy to visit his friend Chef Pisghetti's restaurant, which always smell so good. But when the chef offers him a taste of his delicious Molto Jolto sauce, George finds that he cannot get even a whiff of it. What's wrong?

CHEF PISGHETTI SENT GEORGE HOME AND THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT SENT GEORGE TO BED. THEN HE TOOK HIS TEMPERATURE.

"FEVER, STUFFY NOSE, CLAMMY PAWS" SAID THE MAN. "YOU'RE DEFINITLY FIGHTING A GERM," HE SAID.

Curious George feels sick, but he's still curious, so the Man with the Yellow Hat pulls out a science book and shows him a picture of some funny looking blobs called germs and explains that they are very, very small but when they get into his body, they can make him feel bad. George was still curious, but he was also very tired, so he fell asleep and began to have a strange dream. George dreams that he and his friend Gnochi are as small as a germ, small enough to be inside his body, and following the sound of some strange music, they come upon some yellow blobs who call themselves Toots and the Germettes, singing and dancing and partying big time in his nose. Are they why he can't smell?

"WE'LL MAKE YOU SNIFF AND WE'LL MAKE YOU SNEEZE!

YOU WON'T BE SMELLING THAT SMELLY CHEESE.

Having stopped up George's nose, Toots and the Germettes head for his lungs. But luckily George remembers something about a way his lungs work to make the germs leave--so what he has to do was to cough them right out of his body. George wakes, remembering his weird dream, and after a few days of resting in bed, he discovers that at last he can smell and taste the man's homemade chicken soup. It's wonderful to feel better and know that Toots and the Germettes are gone for good.

Or are they?

HIS FRIEND THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT WAS SICK!

And their friend Professor Wiseman is soon at the door with a gift of... (you guessed it) chicken soup, in Erica Zappy's Curious George Discovers Germs (Science Storybook) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), a Curious George story that gives preschool and primary students an introduction to the germ theory and the things people can do to avoid contagion and to get better when infected, like washing their hands frequently when they are around other people who may have contagious "germs" and resting in bed to get well.

Although youngsters will giggle at imagining cold viruses as a tubby pop singing group, informational sidebars on most pages provide the scientific information that they need to know about staying safe from harmful viruses and bacteria, while Curious George provides a demonstration of thoroughly washing both his hands and his feet that will remind kids to be zealous in protecting themselves from contagious diseases and remaining healthy. A jolly appendix provides not only a chicken soup recipe, but also an easy experiment with two slices of fresh bread which demonstrate dramatic evidence of the germ theory. A good first book on contagious illnesses for young children.