Richard Scarry

[phreesh]

I loved his work as a child and was am happy my children love his work just as much as I did.

I love how much is going on in his pages and how you can discover more and more things as you re-read them.

I’m also impressed with his ability to show action through time on a single page (or two pages). It’s a real challenge to show things happening through time on a single page that doesn’t confuse the reader and Scarry is a master at it. Bananas gorilla steals those bananas on the top left of page 3 and then the police dog follows the peels to the bottom of page 4 while Mr. Frumble crashes his car into a fire hydrant on the bottom of page 3, shooting water to the top of page 4 and putting out the hippo’s birthday candles. And it’s all comprehensible.

[Malthus]

@Gyrate

I am aware, but Google results are very Scarry-heavy.

ETA: Aha!

There ya go.

Excellent! I thought it might be biblical.

[kaylasdad99]

@Jophiel

Loved them as a kid but, as a cranky old man, I’m not up to buying those new-fangled “updated” editions for the kids.

I think one of the things I loved most as a kid was that there was always stuff going on in the background and the little meta-events were more entertaining than the main focus of the picture.

@RealityChuck

I can’t stand him. Every time I’d look at a Richard Scarry book for my daughter, all I could think is “why is this guy so popular?” The drawings are so incredibly twee and bland that they make no more impression than gray wallpaper. And whatever stories were there (usually the books I saw were just his drawings with an subliminal “Ain’t this cute?” all over them), were dull and unimaginative.

Give me Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Wanda Gag, Esphyr Slobodkina, Kurt Wiese, Clement Hurd, Nurit Karlin, or any artist whose work showed a little personality. Scarry is the American cheese of artist – no flavor at all.

Yeah, sure, give me all of those folks too, but give your daughter the opportunity to pore over those incredibly busy illustrations for hours on end, just to find the new things she didn’t see the first ten times.

[Phlosphr]

Many hours spent finding Goldbugas a kid.

[An_Gadai]

I loved them as a sprog, used to try copy out the scenes on A3 paper.

[cmkeller]

Loved his stuff growing up, love reading it to my kids as well.

Never mind Lowly Worm - I only recently understood the meaning behind someone named “Able Baker Charlie.”

[Jophiel]

@astro

This was interesting (from his wiki)

(list of things removed/edited from current edition)

Haha… now I just spent too much on an “original” Best Word Book Ever (the 1400 object edition) to have when the baby gets older.

At least when I told my spouse about it, her response was “Awesome!”

[Ostrya]

Another yea vote times ten for Richard Scarry.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

Even when I was “too old” for them, I loved to look at them.

So much fun detail!

[eleanorigby]

Ugh. My kids had one or two, and they loved them. I never had them as a kid. Part of me could understand the appeal–the bright colors, the animals dressed like people, all the stuff in the pics. But I also noticed that Mr Scarry made a point of making “Mommy Cat” (or whatever her name was) a dunce, all the time. Irked me no end. Plus, the female characters always wore skirts and girly things. A small thing, but it bugged me and it’s what I remember (my kids are much older now). It got on my nerves so much that I changed the story (I couldn’t change the pics), so that Mommy Cat didn’t come across as a complete dufus all the time.

Felt the same away about Papa Bear in the Berenstain Bear books (and did the same thing).

[Lynn_Bodoni]

This was the reason why I never bought my daughter any Scarry books. She had a couple, which she’d received as gifts, but I never chose them as reading material. I disliked the way that Scarry portrayed females, although he otherwise was a pretty good kids’ author/illustrator. I babysat from the time I was about 10 or 11, and one way to keep the kids quiet was to read to them, so I’d had a lot of exposure to Scarry. I’d read any book to my daughter that she picked out, but she liked for me to grab a few books and call her to bed. She also loved it when I told one of my special stories, which were usually retellings of traditional fairy tales. I tried to make the female characters something more than just a beautiful and very helpless girl.

[Cazzle]

@Cunctator

I remember seeing his books when I was child, but I never really found them very interesting.

I was much the same. I had several, but they were never among my favorites.

[jjimm]

Adored them. His books and the Very Hungry Caterpillar were my staples until I started to read “grown-up” books around five. Golbug FTW!

[Jophiel]

@Lynn_Bodoni

I disliked the way that Scarry portrayed females, although he otherwise was a pretty good kids’ author/illustrator.

You know, I don’t think I ever read any actual stories by Scarry, just the vocabulary/educational type books. “Best Word Book”, “What Do People Do All Day?”, “Things That Go”, etc.

I see there’s a lot of story type books on Amazon with inferior quality (in my view) illustration. Did Scarry Sr. do stories or was that a Jr. thing? I can’t say I’m up on by Scarry bibliography and Amazon just calls them all “Richard Scarry”.

[eleanorigby]

@Jophiel

You know, I don’t think I ever read any actual stories by Scarry, just the vocabulary/educational type books. “Best Word Book”, “What Do People Do All Day?”, “Things That Go”, etc.

My kids had a big blue Scarry book that featured a train station and train, going to the grocery store, cleaning the house etc, with every object labeled. No idea what it was titled, but there was no plot–certainly no real narrative. But even in that book, Mommy Cat couldn’t manage the shopping cart (“watch where you’re going, Mommy!”) or the vacuum cleaner (or some other household appliance). Daddy Cat drove the car and was shown as the stable, sensible one. And of course, Mommy Cat did not work outside the home. I don’t recall Jr Cat (male) doing any household chores, but I seem to recall Jr Cat (female) dusting. That sort of thing.

People my age (late 40s) and a bit older will clearly remember the SAHM as a figure of fun and ineptitude. It wasn’t funny then, and it’s still not funny. I’ll bet that Scarry Senior was just a bit older than I am. Sad thing is that he lived through the Feminist 70s and should have learned a thing or two.

[jayjay]

@eleanorigby

I’ll bet that Scarry Senior was just a bit older than I am. Sad thing is that he lived through the Feminist 70s and should have learned a thing or two.

Not unless you’re a LOT older than I ever thought you were. Scarry Sr. was born in 1919.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@eleanorigby

My kids had a big blue Scarry book that featured a train station and train, going to the grocery store, cleaning the house etc, with every object labeled. No idea what it was titled, but there was no plot–certainly no real narrative. But even in that book, Mommy Cat couldn’t manage the shopping cart (“watch where you’re going, Mommy!”) or the vacuum cleaner (or some other household appliance). Daddy Cat drove the car and was shown as the stable, sensible one. And of course, Mommy Cat did not work outside the home. I don’t recall Jr Cat (male) doing any household chores, but I seem to recall Jr Cat (female) dusting. That sort of thing.

People my age (late 40s) and a bit older will clearly remember the SAHM as a figure of fun and ineptitude. It wasn’t funny then, and it’s still not funny. I’ll bet that Scarry Senior was just a bit older than I am. Sad thing is that he lived through the Feminist 70s and should have learned a thing or two.

This. Exactly. While there might not have been formal stories in the Scarry books, females were portrayed as being completely incompetent, and being completely happy to be in traditional roles. Boys had fun. Girls did the dusting. Men (well, males) worked outside the home. Women (females) only did housework and other housewifely chores. Being female DEFINED the female characters, and they were happy to be in their place. However, Lowly Worm was allowed to break the stereotype of worms, and he pushed himself to his limits. Females never even thought about doing anything other than their traditional roles.

[Princhester]

@eleanorigby

Ugh. My kids had one or two, and they loved them. I never had them as a kid. Part of me could understand the appeal–the bright colors, the animals dressed like people, all the stuff in the pics. But I also noticed that Mr Scarry made a point of making “Mommy Cat” (or whatever her name was) a dunce, all the time. Irked me no end. Plus, the female characters always wore skirts and girly things. A small thing, but it bugged me and it’s what I remember (my kids are much older now). It got on my nerves so much that I changed the story (I couldn’t change the pics), so that Mommy Cat didn’t come across as a complete dufus all the time.

Daddy Pig is also a complete idiot. It’s just a common child book theme to portray the children as smart and their parents as dimwits. The little girl and little boy pig are both smart.

Loved them, my boys do too.

And yes it is a shame that Richard Scarry snr’s works are being re-worked and dumbed down.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

Daddy Pig is also a complete idiot. It’s just a common child book theme to portray the children as smart and their parents as dimwits. The little girl and little boy pig are both smart.

The thing is, though, some males are portrayed as smart, while some are complete idiots. I don’t remember ANY female characters that weren’t portrayed as adorably ditzy, and who weren’t portrayed as stereotypical females. It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve read any Scarry books, though. Very long. I don’t remember the girl pig at all.

[Baal_Houtham]

I’m not well informed on the guy(s), but mostly because I never cared for anything with the Scarry name on it. I think there was an representational style (tempera?) and a cartoon style and both of them were bland.

I never noticed an interesting line, a fascinating facial expression, or a profound concept in the writing or design.

I have respect and love for Sendak, Watterson, Schulz, Seuss, and a load of lesser known illustrators. But Scarry? If he was ever touched by inspiration I haven’t seen it.