Richard McClure Scarry (; June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his Best Ever book series that take place primarily in the fictional town of Busytown, "which is populated by friendly and helpful resident [animals...such as] Mr. Frumble, Huckle Cat, Mr. Fixit, Lowly Worm, and others..." The series spawned a media franchise.
Early life and education Richard Scarry, the second-oldest of five children, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 5 June 1919 to Mary McClure and John Scarry Sr.. His parents were of Irish-American ancestry, and ran a small department store chain. Scarry had four siblings: older brother John Jr., younger sister Barbara, and younger brothers Edward and Leo.1940 U.S. Census, familysearch.com The family enjoyed a comfortable life in the Dorchester neighborhood, even during the Great Depression.
Following high school, Scarry enrolled in Boston Business School, but dropped out in 1938. He then studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Archipenko Art School in Woodstock, New York, and the Eliot O'Hara Watercolor School in Goose Rocks, Kennebunkport, Maine. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942.
Career After entering the Army, Scarry was assigned to the military's radio repair school. After small success at that trade, he was chosen to paint a large sign and was then made an art director after receiving a medical dispensation "from strenuous physical activity." Later he became "Editor and Writer of Publications for the Information and Morale Services Section of the Allied Force Headquarters", served in North Africa, and was discharged from the Army in 1946. After the war, Scarry worked in magazine and advertising in New York City, including a very brief stint at Vogue. In 1949, he made a career breakthrough with Little Golden Books.
Scarry's most famous series of books was about Busytown and revolved around anthropomorphic animals. While his books are largely populated by common animal species, he proved to be quite adept at giving human characteristics to a seemingly endless number of creatures, machines, and creations. Many of his later illustrations feature characters in traditional Swiss clothing and show architecturally correct drawings of half-timber houses.
Scarry was a disciplined worker. Scarry was closely associated with mass-market children's publisher Ole Risom. They worked together on dozens of books, including I Am a Bunny, which Risom wrote and Scarry illustrated. First published in 1963, it remained in print into the 2000s. Risom and Walter Retan also co-wrote an illustrated biography, The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry. In the 1980s and 1990s, many of Scarry's Best Ever books were produced as animated videos and aired during TLC's now-defunct Ready Set Learn! block. The Busytown books were also adapted into an animated series, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, which was produced by Canada-based CINAR (now WildBrain) and Paramount Television and aired on the pay-TV channel Showtime from 1993 to 1997. It reran in the late 1990s on Nickelodeon and its sister channel Noggin (now Nick Jr.). A further animated series, Busytown Mysteries, was commissioned by CBC from the Cookie Jar Group (the successor to CINAR) in 2007, and it aired on the Kids' CBC morning programming block.
Busytown was featured at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh from June 13 to September 8, 2002, in an interactive exhibit, Richard Scarry's Busytown. His books were popular with children throughout the world, with over 100 million copies sold.
Scarry's papers and drawings are collected in the University of Connecticut archives.
Personal life and family While working as a freelance illustrator, Scarry met Patricia "Patsy" Murphy, a writer of children's textbooks, when they collaborated on one of her books; they married in 1948. She wrote many of the stories in his subsequent children's books, such as Good Night, Little Bear; The Bunny Book; and The Fishing Cat. Before moving to Europe, the family lived on a farm in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
In 1972, Scarry and his wife moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1974, they bought a chalet in nearby Gstaad, where Scarry enjoyed spending time with his adult son, Richard Scarry Jr., skiing, coin collecting, and sailing.
Scarry's son is also an illustrator, who sometimes works in his father's style, using the name Huck Scarry. He moved to Vienna, Austria, and has four children.
Death On April 30, 1994, in Gstaad, Switzerland, Scarry died of a heart attack, caused by complications from esophageal cancer, at age 74.
Bibliography Scarry began his book career in 1949 as an illustrator of books by other people, specifically Kathryn & Byron Jackson's Mouse's House. He continued as only or primarily an illustrator through 1955, then began turning out original books.
His titles, in order of publication, are:
Golden Books Mouse's House, 1949 Duck and His Friends, 1949 Two Little Miners, 1949 My Little Golden Dictionary, 1949 Christopher Bunny and Other Animal Stories, 1949 First Book Ever, 1950 Animals' Merry Christmas, 1950 Here Comes the Parade, 1951 The Gingerbread Man, 1953 Rabbit and His Friends, 1954 The Party Pig, 1954 Pierre Bear, 1954 The Bunny Book, 1955 Nursery Tales, 1958 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, 1958 Cars and Trucks, 1959 Firemen and Fire Engine Stamps, 1959 Naughty Bunny, 1959 Tinker and Tanker (), 1960 Just for Fun (), 1960 Chicken Little, 1960 Tinker and Tanker Out West, 1961 Tinker and Tanker and Their Space Ship, 1961 Tinker and Tanker and the Pirates, 1961 Good Night, Little Bear, 1961 The Country Mouse and The City Mouse, 1961 The Hickory Dickory Clock Book, 1961 Tommy Visits the Doctor, 1962 My Little Golden Book of Manners, 1962 Manners, 1962 What Animals Do, 1963 A Tinker and Tanker Coloring Book, 1963 I Am a Bunny (), 1963 Chipmunk's ABC, 1963 The Rooster Struts, 1963 Best Word Book Ever (), first published 1963, reprinted 1970, "new revised edition" 1980 Tinker and Tanker, Knights of the Round Table, 1963 Tinker and Tanker in Africa, 1963 Polite Elephant, 1964 Is This the House of Mistress Mouse? (), 1964 Feed the Hippo His ABC's, 1964 Animal Mother Goose, 1964 Best Nursery Rhymes Ever, 1964 (reprinted as Best Mother Goose Ever) Busy, Busy World, 1965 Teeny Tiny Tales, 1965 The Santa Claus Book, 1965 The Bunny Book, 1965 Storybook Dictionary: A Giant Golden Book, 1966 (reprinted as Best Picture Dictionary Ever) Planes, 1967 Trains, 1967 Boats (), 1967 Cars, 1967 Egg in the Hole Book, 1967 Springtime Tales, 1967 Autumn Tales, 1967 Winter Tales, 1967 Best Story Book Ever (), 1967 What Do People Do All Day? (), 1968 The Early Bird/Lowly Worm Meets the Early Bird (), 1968 (Early Moments) What Animals Do, 1968 The Great Pie Robbery, 1969 The Supermarket Mystery, 1969(The above two were combined in the omnibus Great Big Mystery Book (), also 1969.) Great Big Schoolhouse (), 1969 Summer Tales, 1970 Great Big Air Book (), 1971 Best Stories Ever, 1971 ABC Word Book ( ), 1971 Look and Learn Library (4 Vols.) (Library of Congress 75-151-440), 1971 * Fun with Words * Things to Know * Going Places * Best Stories Ever Hop Aboard! Here We Go! (, ), 1972 Funniest Storybook Ever (), 1972 Nicky Goes to the Doctor, 1972 Silly Stories, 1973 Babykins and His Family, 1973
Random House Find Your ABC's, 1973 Please and Thank You Book (), 1973 Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (), 1974 Best Rainy Day Book Ever, 1974 European Word Book, 1974
Golden Books Animal Nursery Tales (), 1975 Great Steamboat Mystery, 1975 Best Counting Book Ever, 1975
Random House Busiest People Ever (), 1976 Favorite Storybook, 1976 Busy Town, Busy People, 1976 Storytime, 1976 Look-Look Books, 1976 (10 Vols.) Early Words, 1976 Color Book, 1976 Laugh and Learn Library, 1976 (4 Vols.) Picture Dictionary, 1976 Teeny Tiny ABC, 1976 Learn to Count, 1976 Lowly Worm Story Book, 1977 Busy, Busy Word Book, 1977 Best Make-It Book Ever, 1977 Busy-Busy Counting Book, 1977 Postman Pig and His Busy Neighbors, 1978 Toy Book, 1978 Bedtime Stories, 1978 Stories to Color, 1978 Little Word Book, 1978 Punch-Out Toy Book, 1978 Things to Learn, 1978 Little ABC, 1978 Best First Book Ever, 1979 Tinker and Tanker and Tales of Pirates and Knights, 1979 To Market, To Market, 1979 Holiday Book, 1979 Work and Play Book, 1979 Mix and Match Storybook, 1979 Huckle's Book, 1979 Busytown Pop-Up Book, 1979 Can You Count?, 1979 Lowly Worm Things on Wheels, 1979 Peasant Pig and the Terrible Dragon (), 1980 Christmas Mice, 1981 Best Christmas Book Ever (, ), 1981 Busy Houses, 1981 Four Busy Word Books, 1982 Busytown Shape Book, 1982 Sticker Books, 1982 (3 Vols.) Lowly Worm Cars and Trucks Book, 1983 Lowly Worm Bath Book, 1984 The Best Mistake Ever! and Other Stories, 1984 (Early Moments) Best Bumper Book Ever, 1984 Pig Will and Pig Won't: A Book of Manners (), 1984 Busy Fun and Learn Book, 1984 Biggest Word Book Ever! (), 1985 My First Word Book, 1986 Big and Little, 1986 Splish Splash Sounds, 1986 Best Workbooks Ever! (FUN With Letters), 1986 (4 Vols.) Best Workbooks Ever! (FUN With Numbers), 1986 (3 Vols.) Best Music Book Ever, 1987 Things That Go, 1987 Things to Love, 1987 Busy Workers, 1987 Lowly Worm's Schoolbag, 1987 (4 Vols.) Getting Ready for School, 1987 (4 Vols.) Going Places on the Water, 1987 (4 Vols.) Learning How Sticker Book, 1988 Giant Coloring Book, 1988 Busy Busy Sticker Book, 1988 Best Times Ever, 1988 Activity Book, 1988 Best Bedtime Book Ever, 1988 Best Read and Learn Book Ever, 1988 Biggest First Book Ever, 1988 Busy, Busy World (), 1988 Dr. Doctor, 1988 Farmer Patrick Pig, 1988 Frances Fix-It, 1988 Harry and Larry the Fishermen, 1988 Play Day, 1988 Smokey the Fireman, 1988
Golden Books Sniff the Detective, 1988 All About Cars, 1989 Best Friend Ever, 1989 Best Ride Ever, 1989 Best Two-Minute Stories Ever!, 1989 Mother Goose Scratch and Sniff Book, 1989 Best Ever, 1989 Tinker and Tanker Storybook, 1989 Welcome to Scarrytown, 1989
Random House Best Puzzle Word Book Ever, 1989 Just Right Word Book, 1990 Counting Book, 1990 Be Careful, Mr Frumble, 1990 Best Read It Yourself Book Ever, 1990 Best Story Book Ever, 1991 ABC's, 1991 Watch Your Step, Mr. Rabbit!, 1991 Best Busy Year Ever, 1991 The Cat Family Takes a Trip, 1991 The Cat Family's Busy Day, 1991 Mr. Frumble's Worst Day Ever, 1991 Sergeant Murphy's Busiest Day Ever!, 1992 Best Fairytales Ever, 1992 Best Little Word Book Ever, 1992 Biggest Pop-Up Book Ever!, 1992 Bananas Gorilla, 1992 Huckle Cat's Busiest Day Ever, 1992 Word Book With Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm, 1992 Mr. Fix-It: Richard Scarry's Smallest Pop-Up Book Ever!, 1992 Mr. Frumble: Richard Scarry's Smallest Pop-Up Book Ever!, 1992 Biggest Make-It Book Ever, 1993 Colors, 1993 First Words, 1993 Story Book, 1993 Pie Rats Ahoy!, 1994 (Early Moments) Busy, Busy Town (), 1994 (posthumous) Longest Book Ever! (), 1995 (Posthumous) The Worst Helper Ever!, 1998 (Posthumous) (Early Moments) Chuckle with Huckle! and Other Easy-to-Read Funny Stories, 2005 (posthumous) (Early Moments)