George Most Wanted

Sylvia Pantaleo is an associate professor of education at the University
of Victoria. She is the co-author of Learning with Literature in the
Canadian Elementary Classroom.

George, a little plastic figurine with black hair who wears a red
jumpsuit and shiny red shoes, belongs to Katie and Mackenzie. In this
sequel to The True Story of George, George continues his adventures
where they ended at the end of the first book. The children had tied
George to a rocket and their mother accidentally launched it into space.
Of course when the rocket explodes, George’s body parts scatter in all
directions. Katie and Mackenzie recover only George’s left leg and a
shoe, so they make posters of George with detailed drawings of his body
parts. The notices are displayed around the neighbourhood, and soon
people begin returning parts of George. An interview with the local
paper results in a wealth of items being sent to Katie and Mackenzie,
including a motorbike and a beautiful female plastic figure. Eventually
George’s body parts are reunited and he is thrilled about the
motorbike and the female companion.

Pencilled illustrations by Stéphane Denis complement the text. Some of
the chapters are told from the children’s point of view while other
chapters are told from George’s point of view. Essentially the book
chronicles the return of George’s body parts and thus the trajectory
of the plot is very predictable. The mini-narratives describing the
location and return of George’s missing body parts create minimal
reader interest. Not a first-choice purchase.