Gosh, I love Richard Scarry’s books. They’re so wonderfully illustrated and always a delight to read with its wide cast of animal characters always getting into zany adventures. Makes me want to watch the Richard Scarry animated series that used to play on Nick when I was young. Great book for the small kids, just as good for us adults when we feel nostalgic. ( )

Richard Scarry's books are a treat.
You can get lost in the beautiful and wonderfully detailed illustrations.
His worlds are alive, and vibrant, as few artists are able to bring to paper.
As a child I had some of these stories collected in separate books.
My favourite was Harry and Larry the Fishermen.
When an illustrated book manages to really catch a child's rapt attention and immagination the experience becomes almost synesthetic, doesn't it? Objects are almost felt by one's reaching hands and all but attain a weight of their own. Foods that one has never tasted acquire a mythical flavor that real life will never mach or be able to compete with; and so, little me found herself in a harbour of a northern sea watching tugboats on the horizon.

Huh, I guess Richard Scarry actually had kind of bad values--not, like, Nazism or bearbaiting, but "pretty stewardesses," shrieking women everywhere, weirdly pedantic focus on cars and planes, minor stuff but kind of turnoffs. Oh, but he was born in 1919. And to his credit, he let them update his books with the times. But this is the old version. ( )

A selected sampling of Scarry's work from his various Golden Books.

I recommend this book all the time. It is a wonderful book for a child to grow with. It has everything from the alphabet and colors to easy reading stories to bedtime stories to read to the little ones. Good to carry everywhere for those times when the kids are getting cranky. Lots to occupy their busy minds. ( )