Richard Scarry (1919-1994)
By Charles Spradlin
Richard Scarry, my favorite author as a child, was an author
and
illustrator of children's books for over thirty years. Born on June 5,
1919, he died in 1994 at the age of 75. He published over three
hundred hundred
books. A very private person, he gave
few interviews over the years.
Fun seems to be the key to Scarry's works. Not only should
the work be
fun for the author and the child, but "It is also more fun for the parent,
teacher, or babysitter, who has to read and reread these books over and
over. I try to put as much fun and action as possible into each book so
that the reader may find something new each time it is read.(1)" With
sparse text, his stories are a visual experience.
In 1950 he illustrated Katherine Jackson's The Animals
Merry
Christmas from Simon and Schuster. He worked throughout the 50's
illustrating books done by various authors, usually for Golden Press. In
1955 he illustrated Jane Werner's Smokey the Bear from Golden
Press. This story about a bear cub would become a national icon for
outdoor fire safety. The next time you see Smokey just think that he
looks the way he does now because of how Richard Scarry thought he should
look back then. His own first book as an author/illustrator was The
Best Word Book Ever, published in 1963. Since then, he wrote and
illustrated his own works, with the exception of Barbara Shock Hazen's
adaptation of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer in 1991 from Golden
Press.
For the first thirty years of his career, Scarry was very
successful as an
author, often publishing four works in a year or more. In the last five
years, his work has adapted to other forms of media as a means of
communicating
with children. Adaptations included a syndicated
cartoon show for
television and a video series, Richard Scarry's Best Videos
Ever. His CD-ROM adaptations are also very popular with works such as
How Things Work in Busytown and The Busy World of Richard
Scarry. His action characters like Sgt. Murphy (who rides a cool
motorcycle and does not carry a gun) are popular with children as
young as my two-year-old.
You will find more information about Richard Scarry at USM de
Grummond Collection.
Bibliography &
References
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