The busiest Busytown book is Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
October 24, 2024 9:44 AM Subscribe
the fact i cannot own and drive a pickle car is the greatest wrong ever done to me
posted by Kitteh at 9:53 AM on October 24, 2024 [29 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 9:53 AM on October 24, 2024 [29 favorites]
Metafilter: I must have been a real pain in the ass as a kid. But Richard Scarry somehow made me feel safe and settled.
posted by Naberius at 9:55 AM on October 24, 2024 [6 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 9:55 AM on October 24, 2024 [6 favorites]
I had reason to look up some Scarry facts recently...
A reminiscence from a family friend: Dick loved a friendly contest with the woke and PC crowd of yore.
From a 1976 NYT article: 'The books have made Mr. Scarry (pronounced as in "carry") a wealthy man. "Not yet quite a millionaire," he says with a laugh, "but I'm hoping."'
posted by rory at 9:56 AM on October 24, 2024 [4 favorites]
A reminiscence from a family friend: Dick loved a friendly contest with the woke and PC crowd of yore.
From a 1976 NYT article: 'The books have made Mr. Scarry (pronounced as in "carry") a wealthy man. "Not yet quite a millionaire," he says with a laugh, "but I'm hoping."'
posted by rory at 9:56 AM on October 24, 2024 [4 favorites]
Sergeant Murphy and Lowly Worm will always have my heart.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:57 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:57 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
Yes, my daughter had a Richard Scarry phase. The main one was "What Do People Do All Day?" She was all about Doctor Lion, when Abby the bunny got her tonsils out, and then her mother got brought in in the ambulance and suddenly she had a new baby brother. Doctor Lion was her hero.
Honorable mentions went to Sergeant Murphy chasing Gorilla Bananas around town, and to the one where Huckle's extremely high strung mother creates a small fire while ironing, and a fireman comes crashing into the upstairs room where Huckle is completely oblivious to all this and dives out the window with him to safety.
We also had the storybook, and she loved Mr. Frumble's New Car. Mr. Frumble was the idiot who drove the pickle car. He has to put it in the shop after wrecking it yet again and then gets really, really confused and runs all over town "accidentally" stealing vehicles and wreaking havoc exactly like a kid's version of Grand Theft Auto.
I would also note that the first piece in "What Do People Do All Day?" is called "Everyone Is a Worker." Darn right, kid. Remember that. Don't let them tell you different.
posted by Naberius at 10:07 AM on October 24, 2024 [9 favorites]
Honorable mentions went to Sergeant Murphy chasing Gorilla Bananas around town, and to the one where Huckle's extremely high strung mother creates a small fire while ironing, and a fireman comes crashing into the upstairs room where Huckle is completely oblivious to all this and dives out the window with him to safety.
We also had the storybook, and she loved Mr. Frumble's New Car. Mr. Frumble was the idiot who drove the pickle car. He has to put it in the shop after wrecking it yet again and then gets really, really confused and runs all over town "accidentally" stealing vehicles and wreaking havoc exactly like a kid's version of Grand Theft Auto.
I would also note that the first piece in "What Do People Do All Day?" is called "Everyone Is a Worker." Darn right, kid. Remember that. Don't let them tell you different.
posted by Naberius at 10:07 AM on October 24, 2024 [9 favorites]
My favourites were The Little Union at the Big Steel Mill, Lowly Worm Never Talks to Cops and the Richard Scarry's Big Book of Protests and Sit-ins.
sigh...
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:21 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
sigh...
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:21 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
Rory, that malaria story is amazing! Thank you for sharing that. And who the hell seriously denounced Richard Scarry books for violence?
posted by queensissy at 10:23 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by queensissy at 10:23 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
My favourites were The Little Union at the Big Steel Mill, Lowly Worm Never Talks to Cops and the Richard Scarry's Big Book of Protests and Sit-ins.
My children got a steady diet of Richard Scarry books and Pete Seeger songs delivered nightly. That seems to have been enough to give them some guidance to be kind as adults.
I wish I hadn’t read that article in The Spectator. Not a publication I’d choose to interview him, and he came across callous about social issues.
But I’ll always miss those evenings reading the same page again and again upon request.
I’m sure we need a new Richard Scarry for the modern age, with all his charm and gentle humor, but also with gender, racial, ability, and social diversity and sensitivity front and center.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 10:37 AM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
My children got a steady diet of Richard Scarry books and Pete Seeger songs delivered nightly. That seems to have been enough to give them some guidance to be kind as adults.
I wish I hadn’t read that article in The Spectator. Not a publication I’d choose to interview him, and he came across callous about social issues.
But I’ll always miss those evenings reading the same page again and again upon request.
I’m sure we need a new Richard Scarry for the modern age, with all his charm and gentle humor, but also with gender, racial, ability, and social diversity and sensitivity front and center.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 10:37 AM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
That was beautiful. Glad I managed to share "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" with my son when he was young enough to really appreciate it.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 10:39 AM on October 24, 2024
posted by TheophileEscargot at 10:39 AM on October 24, 2024
Black artist Ajuan Mance has made a children’s book which was in part inspired by Richard Scarry, What Do Brothas Do All Day?
posted by larrybob at 10:43 AM on October 24, 2024 [7 favorites]
posted by larrybob at 10:43 AM on October 24, 2024 [7 favorites]
I loved Cars and Trucks and Things That Go as a kid. Now my son loves it too (at least the pared down board book version). He loves finding Lowly Worm and Goldbug on every page and huge variety of cars both realistic and fantastical.
posted by thecjm at 10:49 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by thecjm at 10:49 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
My partner and I will still occasionally yell
WATCH OUT FOR THE CORN CAR, CHICKENS!
at each other or the kids. It’s an unimprovable sentence.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:52 AM on October 24, 2024 [5 favorites]
WATCH OUT FOR THE CORN CAR, CHICKENS!
at each other or the kids. It’s an unimprovable sentence.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:52 AM on October 24, 2024 [5 favorites]
The closest thing to a real life Busytown is the Minuteman Path outside of Boston. Take your 5 year old on a bike trailer and he will see every category of battery-powered and muscle powered single person vehicle known to man. Bikes, trikes, recumbents, wheelchairs, 2 seat kid trailers, 1 wheel kid trailers, extracycles, extra cycle kid seats with a Piaggio style canopy, bakfiets, you name it.
posted by ocschwar at 10:53 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by ocschwar at 10:53 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
"In the years that followed, Scarry continued to do exceptional work in Golden’s illuminated-painting mode, most notably his 1963 book I Am a Bunny, with text by his friend Risom. I never read it as a child, but I can now attest to its elegant, quiet beauty, because it was my daughter’s first word book ever, and I read it to her several hundred times. I never tired of its pictures or its words, the simple zen-like magic it evokes of the inevitability of the passing seasons always somehow putting the reader in a pleasant passenger-seat view. I Am a Bunny stands as one of the true tranquil masterpieces of children’s book art."
Strong agree.
posted by obsoletefuture at 11:01 AM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
Strong agree.
posted by obsoletefuture at 11:01 AM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
That meme that's been going around about how life has disappointed me because I based my view of how the world works on Richard Scarry books. So true, sigh.
I adored Scarry books. Still have my son's copy of "Busy People" (his name for it).
posted by sundrop at 11:03 AM on October 24, 2024 [4 favorites]
I adored Scarry books. Still have my son's copy of "Busy People" (his name for it).
posted by sundrop at 11:03 AM on October 24, 2024 [4 favorites]
Came for Lowly Worm, not disappointed.
posted by sammyo at 11:31 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 11:31 AM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
The main one was "What Do People Do All Day?"
I have the original unabridged version from 1968, which is worth a bit more than it should be in this day and age.
posted by Melismata at 11:43 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
I have the original unabridged version from 1968, which is worth a bit more than it should be in this day and age.
posted by Melismata at 11:43 AM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
What i appreciate most is the subtle perspective in Scarry’s work - the narrator offers their opinion, but also brings us into the story too. It’s very effective!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:14 PM on October 24, 2024
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:14 PM on October 24, 2024
The bit about Scarry's wartime illustrations was interesting. Some light googling didn't turn any examples up-- has anyone here found any?
posted by supercres at 12:30 PM on October 24, 2024
posted by supercres at 12:30 PM on October 24, 2024
but also with gender, racial, ability, and social diversity and sensitivity front and center.
so FWIW, current versions of the books are better, not perfect, but better. For instance, the dad rabbit in What Do People Do All Day is the one in the kitchen in the apron, and the airplane flight attendants are male and female presenting. I think Scarry's son is the one that changed the illustrations for more recent versions.
posted by Dr. Twist at 1:06 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
so FWIW, current versions of the books are better, not perfect, but better. For instance, the dad rabbit in What Do People Do All Day is the one in the kitchen in the apron, and the airplane flight attendants are male and female presenting. I think Scarry's son is the one that changed the illustrations for more recent versions.
posted by Dr. Twist at 1:06 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
I remember loving the books as a kid, and then later, as a babysitter, completely confused by a drawing of lowly worm using a shovel by just...wrapping himself around the handle
posted by mabelstreet at 2:45 PM on October 24, 2024
posted by mabelstreet at 2:45 PM on October 24, 2024
completely confused by a drawing of lowly worm using a shovel by just...wrapping himself around the handle
Ye of little faith.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:00 PM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
Ye of little faith.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:00 PM on October 24, 2024 [2 favorites]
From the first article:
Lowly…cheerfully makes his linear form work in all sorts of inspiring and disarmingly moving ways.
…I see what they did there
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:20 PM on October 24, 2024
Lowly…cheerfully makes his linear form work in all sorts of inspiring and disarmingly moving ways.
…I see what they did there
posted by Jon Mitchell at 3:20 PM on October 24, 2024
Big fan of Scarry. Cat in Danger and Beautiful Screaming Lady are both good band/user names.
posted by ovvl at 5:36 PM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 5:36 PM on October 24, 2024 [3 favorites]
I will always love the color bunnies.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:42 PM on October 24, 2024
posted by ob1quixote at 8:42 PM on October 24, 2024
I’m sure we need a new Richard Scarry for the modern age, with all his charm and gentle humor, but also with gender, racial, ability, and social diversity and sensitivity front and center.
I strongly recommend Jarret Dapier and Andrea Tsurumi's Mr. Watson's Chickens. Less expository than Scarry but just as detailed, plus all that other stuff you mentioned.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:37 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
I strongly recommend Jarret Dapier and Andrea Tsurumi's Mr. Watson's Chickens. Less expository than Scarry but just as detailed, plus all that other stuff you mentioned.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:37 PM on October 24, 2024 [1 favorite]
I had Richard Scarry bedsheets. These. I wish I had a twin size mattress. Falling asleep on these sheets is something I still think about a lot while falling asleep decades later.
I still have really worn copies of a lot of my original Richard Scarry books, and when my son was that age, about 30 years ago, when we started going through all those old books, it felt like passing the torch, but also me rediscovering an old fond memory in a new context.
Whenever I see a house under construction, I picture the pipes as red and blue, and everything is labelled.
posted by not_on_display at 11:54 PM on October 24, 2024 [5 favorites]
I still have really worn copies of a lot of my original Richard Scarry books, and when my son was that age, about 30 years ago, when we started going through all those old books, it felt like passing the torch, but also me rediscovering an old fond memory in a new context.
Whenever I see a house under construction, I picture the pipes as red and blue, and everything is labelled.
posted by not_on_display at 11:54 PM on October 24, 2024 [5 favorites]
Mod note: Great post, thank you! We've added it to the sidebar and Best Of blog!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:31 AM on October 25, 2024
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:31 AM on October 25, 2024
At some point in elementary school, our reading class had a unit about Beatrix Potter. To cap off the unit, our teacher told us to write a letter to our favorite writer who wrote about animals. Most of the class wrote to Beatrix Potter; I wrote to Richard Scarry.
So yeah, I did not understand the assignment, but I got a typewritten letter back with a pen-and-ink drawing of Sergeant Murphy driving his motorbike with Huck and Lowly hanging on for dear life.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:17 AM on October 25, 2024 [7 favorites]
So yeah, I did not understand the assignment, but I got a typewritten letter back with a pen-and-ink drawing of Sergeant Murphy driving his motorbike with Huck and Lowly hanging on for dear life.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:17 AM on October 25, 2024 [7 favorites]
huck scarry on his dad's work...
What Do People Do All Day? (@51:23) from the intro: "It's a bit like Studs Terkel's Working, but for preschoolers."
posted by kliuless at 11:47 PM on October 28, 2024 [2 favorites]
What Do People Do All Day? (@51:23) from the intro: "It's a bit like Studs Terkel's Working, but for preschoolers."
posted by kliuless at 11:47 PM on October 28, 2024 [2 favorites]
I saw a truck this morning that belonged to a sign-installation company. Not painted signs but signs with architectural, structural elements. The bed was filled with a variety of signs of different fonts and colors sticking up over the sides. "Yep," I thought, "straight out of a Richard Scarry book."
posted by hydrophonic at 8:53 AM on October 29, 2024
posted by hydrophonic at 8:53 AM on October 29, 2024
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