Richard Scarry

Richard Scarry (born June 5, 1919, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died April 30, 1994, Gstaad, Switzerland) was an American author and illustrator known for his large detailed picture books for young children. He published more than 250 books that collectively have sold over 100 million copies worldwide and have been translated into some 30 languages. His popular Best Ever educational book series is mainly set in the fictional world of Busytown, which is inhabited by popular anthropomorphic animal characters such as Lowly Worm and Huckle Cat.

Early life and military service

Scarry was born in Boston, the second son of Mary McClure and John Scarry, Sr., who owned a small chain of department stores. After completing high school, he studied drawing and painting at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts from 1939 to 1942. He was drafted into the U.S. Army after finishing school, and he eventually served as a second lieutenant at Allied headquarters in Algiers during World War II. He was assigned to a Special Services unit and tasked with publishing a newsletter to boost troop morale and share news stories from the United States. The newsletter featured news summaries accompanied by Scarry’s hand-drawn illustrations and maps, which provided him with early work experience as a writer and illustrator.

Career and family life

After Scarry was discharged from the army in 1946, he moved to New York City to start a career as a commercial artist. He met Canadian American author Patricia (“Patsy”) Murphy at a party in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood in 1948, and the couple married weeks later. His agent encouraged him to try illustrating children’s books and referred him to the Artists and Writers Guild, a small editorial subsidiary of the Western Publishing company that had recently introduced a line of books called Little Golden Books that catered to young readers. He illustrated Two Little Miners, by Margaret Wise Brown, in 1949, which was the first of several Little Golden Books that he would illustrate during his early career. Golden Books published the first book that Scarry wrote and illustrated, The Great Big Car and Truck Book, in 1951. He also collaborated with his wife, Patsy, and contributed illustrations to children’s books that she wrote, including Danny Beaver’s Secret (1953) and The Bunny Book (1955).

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His first big success was Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever (1963), which was the first large-format title in his Best Ever educational book series. Its pages are crammed with more than 1,400 labeled illustrations arranged in thematic groupings designed to entertain children as they learn new words. His illustrations are packed with interesting details that encourage his young audience to spend hours scanning and revisiting them. Scarry and his family moved to Switzerland in 1968, where he completed some of his most popular works, including Richard Scarry’s What People Do All Day? (1968), Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You Book (1973), and Richard Scarry’s Find Your ABC’s (1973).

Scarry’s eyesight was compromised by a macular degeneration disorder in the early 1980s, which led to a gradual loss of vision. In 1981 he completed his last book Richard Scarry’s Biggest Word Book Ever!. He died of a heart attack caused by complications from esophageal cancer in Switzerland in 1994. An animated television series based on his books called The Busy World of Richard Scarry aired from 1994 to 1998. He was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Illustrators in 2012.

Scarry’s books have remained popular into the 21st century, and some portions have been revised over the course of their editions to reflect more inclusive social values. Examples include the replacement of a drawing of a male bear labeled “policeman” on the front cover of the 1963 edition of Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever with a drawing of a female bear labeled “police officer” and the replacement of phrases such as “handsome pilot” and “pretty stewardess” with the value- and gender-neutral terms “pilot” and “flight attendant.”