H. A. Rey was so intensely interested in astronomy that he took a star guide along with him when he served as a soldier in World War I. He found most guides impossible to interpret and vowed someday to create a more understandable method of constellation recognition. That he did in 1952 with the publication of The Stars: A New Way to See Them. H. A. spent more than four years creating The Stars. The design of their 1947 New Year's card used a constellation motif and triggered the work on his book. An immediate best -seller, it has since become the definitive star-watching guide, popular with laymen and professionals alike, and is still in print 47 years after its first publication. Millions of adults who know nothing of Curious George are very familiar with the name of H. A. Rey through The Stars. He later published a children's version entitled Find the Constellations.