There used to be a large tattered Richard Scarry's 'Busy World' book in my classroom when I was 6. I loved it so much that I stole it, I couldn't cope with other kids looking at it and I wanted it all to myself. It then reappeared in the communal book place so I stole it again. It reappeared again so I stole it again and again and again until my teacher told my folks that I could keep it.

One reason I loved his books as a kid was that he'd have a skyscraper or large building in the background then all the wacky stuff and cross sections in the fore ground, it was an endless source of wonder for me to imagine what was happening inside all the different rooms in the skyscrapers. By age 7 I was hoping for rain during breaktime so we'd all have to stay in and draw where I'd strut my stuff with a rip off of Scarry called 'the Busy Bears'.

Years laters, as a bigboy, my first stab at a long comic story was Clam Land which was heavily influenced by Scarry's work.



Now as I'm rapidly approaching my 30's and with kids being imminent, I've started to stock up on reprints of Richard Scarry's books. I came across this last night, a revision of the 1963 original books. Its sort of funny, scary and depressing. Fireman is now FireFighter, yellow ribbons are tacked on to men to make them look like women, all references to Native American
are gone, etc.

Below is an example. Spot the difference. In the 1991 version they added a husband bunny to the kitchen scene.

Great piece and well worth a look from an editorial, artistic and I hate the New World Order point of view. Click here