Scarry began his career as a freelance illustrator, drawing pictures to accompany the text of books by children’s authors such as Margaret Wise Brown, Kathryn Jackson, and Patricia Murphy (who became Patricia Scarry when she married Richard in 1949). His first two efforts at writing his own books, The Great Big Car and Truck Book (1951) and Rabbit and His Friends (1953), already suggest some of his interests as an author: travel, technology, and talking animals.
But it was the 1963 publication of Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever that put Scarry on bestseller lists, and established his signature style. Its densely packed pages are populated by anthropomorphic animals at work and play, in drawings that reward multiple readings with details children (and parents) may not notice at first glance. The large-format book contains over 1400 illustrated and labeled objects, along with simple introductions to concepts like sharing and helping.
In Busy, Busy World (1965), Scarry's animals star in a series of international adventures in such far-flung locales as Paris, Rome, and Algeria. Well before multiculturalism was an educational buzzword, Scarry believed he could use animals to help children imaginatively enter others' experiences. In a Publishers Weekly interview, he explained that "children can identify more closely with pictures of animals than they can with pictures of another child. They see an illustration of a blond girl or a dark-haired boy, who they know is somebody other than themselves, and competition creeps in. With imagination -- and children all have marvelous imagination -- they can easily identify with an anteater who is a painter or a goat who is an Indian."
Though Scarry soon abandoned exotic settings in favor of the fictional Busytown, he continued to illustrate different roles in society with cherubic critters like Postman Pig, Huckle Cat, Sergeant Murphy, and Lowly Worm. Once he had developed a cast of characters, he introduced them into everything from picture dictionaries and activity books to mystery stories and manners lessons.
Scarry's books, which have sold over 100 million copies and been translated into 30 languages, always reflected his own curiosity about the world. "Wherever I go, I'm watching," he liked to say. "Even on vacation, when I'm in an airport or a railroad station, I look around, snap pictures, and find out how people do things." In relating his discoveries to children, he expanded not only their vocabularies, but their understanding of the "busy world" as a social community in which people work, play, cooperate and share.
Richard Scarry's son Huck Scarry is also a writer and illustrator of children's books, including some new additions to the Busytown series. His nickname matches that of the title character in one of his father's favorite books, Huckleberry Finn.
Anonymous
Posted February 20, 2010
This is the best book. I had my granddaughter's attention for almost an hour going page by page and naming all the activities, people and animals ..... and she is 2 1/2!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 16, 2010
This book is wonderful for ages only a few months all the way up to about 7 or 8. And as my kids got older I would find them in bed rereading their tattered copy of this for years - even over the age of 10. If you can only afford one book, get this. Each page is packed full of tiny little details that little ones will love to find and point out, and each page is an everyday situation - a grocery store, a dinner table, a construction site, getting up in the morning and getting dressed, etc. The drawings are clear and very cute, with tiny little bunnies, worms, bugs, and bears and other animals, all dressed and ready for their day. This has fantastic appeal for boys and girls. I am a huge fan of Scarry's work and this is the best book. The book is big and easy to hold on a lap. Each page will engage a child for a pretty long time. I adore this book!
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Posted May 2, 2009
I bought this book for my grandson, when my son, (his dad) was a baby/toddler he used to sit on grandma's lap and they read this book together. So I wanted my grandson to have something that was a huge part of his dad's life.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 24, 2009
I bought this book 30 years ago when my son was small; now I bought it for my grandson! I found it very useful to teach recognition of colors, numbers, shapes, and objects. We'd look at it for hours at a time.
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Posted March 9, 2009
This is our second copy of this book The first copy was a hand-me-down that was falling apart. Our 2 year old loved the book so much we decided to buy her a new copy. I highly recommend this book.
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Posted April 26, 2013
Perfect book for learning the names of things. Fun pictures and easy read.
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Posted December 1, 2011
Great book - first saw it when my second grandchild was born - now buying for my great-grandkids - I send this book every time I need a "new baby" gift..... children learn from the first colors or picture recognition before the age of 1, right through pre-school years and early reading skills, number counting and exploring the world of every-day life. This book covers it all and grows with the child. It's a book that can be used every day for years.........
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Posted February 9, 2009
Great book for under five years old.
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Posted August 17, 2007
This book is excellent for teaching children to associate one thing to another and then split them of into groups according to their similarities and differences.
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Posted February 24, 2005
My grandma read this book to me when i was little. I really felt attached to the book and i thought i could really relate to it somehow. Now after cleaning out my closet i find it at the very bottom. Its not in the best condition but it still brings out the kid in me..even though im still a kid. Ill probably give it or buy one for my children when i grow up. I spent a lot of time taping it ^_^
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Posted December 6, 2003
I bought this book 20 years ago while studying in Germany. My version had everything in three languages, British English, French and German. I learned more from this book than all my german language classes and textbooks. The French was an added bonus...I highly recommend it.
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Posted February 6, 2002
I got the Lithuanian version of this book when I was 8 years old. It helped me out a lot when I was younger and it still helps me. I highly recommend the Lithuanian version of this book to anyone who is interested or currently is studying Lithuanian!
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Posted August 17, 2001
I gave this book to my 5-year-old nieces. At the time my sister-in-law provided day care for several other children. This book was everyone's favorite. In fact, they would get into fights over it! It's the only gift my brother ever thanked me for giving his daughter! (He liked it too!)
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Posted December 14, 1999
I loved this book when I was a kid! I recently got it back from my sister's children, and found that pages had been torn out and the book had been poorly taken care of. I didn't think anybody would have it, but here it is, among a bazillion other Scarry titles. (: I'm going to save it for my children.
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Posted August 30, 2009
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Posted December 12, 2009
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Posted April 6, 2009
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Posted February 28, 2009
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Posted August 22, 2010
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Posted March 22, 2009
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