Curious George Goes to the Hospital

George wakes up to find a box labeled "surprise" on the desk, it contains a jigsaw puzzle. George opens the box, takes a puzzle piece out, and thinking it is a piece of candy, he swallows it. The Man with the Yellow Hat comes home and tells George that the puzzle is a present for him. They both assemble the puzzle, but notice that the last piece is missing. Unable to find the missing piece, they go to bed.

The next morning, George has a stomachache and is unable to eat his breakfast. Worried, the Man calls Dr. Baker. The doctor is unable to determine the problem, so he recommends that George go to the hospital.

The Man reassures George at the hospital, reminding him of being here before when he broke his leg (a reference to a previous story). George is given a barium meal from a nurse and is taken down a long hallway to the x-ray room, where a special apron is put on. After the x-ray is over, the x-ray picture shows the puzzle piece lodged in George's stomach. The Man with the Yellow Hat realizes that George had accidentally swallowed the piece the night before, which explains why it was missing and why he had a tummy ache the whole time. The doctor then tells George that a small operation is needed to remove it, and he has to stay for a few days. He reveals out that a tube is needed to take the puzzle piece out of George's stomach.

Later, George is admitted to the waiting room where they meet Betsy and her mother. Betsy is scared because this is her first time in a hospital. George meets a nurse named Carol, who takes him to the children's ward where George's temperature and blood pressure are recorded, and he is given a pill and a shot to put him to sleep then wheeled into surgery. After surgery, George is groggy and does not want to read a new book his friend brings him, and goes back to sleep.

When George wakes up the next day, he sees that a boy named Steve with a cast on his leg is trying to walk. With no one looking, George hops into the boy's wheelchair (called a "go-cart" in the book) and races down the corridors. By the time the nurse notices, George is heading down a steep ramp towards the hospital cafeteria. There, a couple of attendants are seen pushing food carts and the mayor is being shown around the hospital. George crashes into the carts and lands in the mayor's arms, while spilling food and breaking the wheelchair and the dishes. The kids see the accident and the first to laugh is Betsy. This gets everyone laughing except George who cries, thinking he might be punished. Betsy consoles George, telling him that he has cheered her up. The adults agree George is not in trouble because he made Betsy no longer feel afraid, and the Man arrives to take him home. Then the people wave goodbye to George and remind him to take care of himself.

As they leave, everybody waves goodbye through the windows and Nurse Carol gives George a present to take home. At home George finds it to be the puzzle piece he swallowed, he is happy that the doctor and nurse had saved it for them. Now able to finish the puzzle, he and the Man place the last missing piece; which is in the center of it. The now-completed puzzle reveals to be a picture of George on the grass of the jungle with the Man's yellow hat in front of him.

• Rey, H. A. and Margaret Rey (2001). The Complete Adventures of Curious George. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-39100-7.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)