Kids Books A to Z: S is for Scarry

One of my favorite story collections when I was a child was a book called Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever! It featured word book-type pages, classic Scarry stories, fables, poems and more. It was how I learned new vocabulary and got that warm and fuzzy feeling from a good story. I also cherished this book because it was given to me by my grandmother. She had Alzheimer's and was placed in a nursing home when I was about 5 or 6. She passed away when I was 9. We were very close when I was little.


My favorite story was about a little bear who has to go to bed. He is riding on his father's shoulders and his dad "forgets" that he is up there. Father searches the whole house for his son, who stifles a laugh. Good Night, Little Bear is also available as its own Little Golden Book.


Another one of his book collections that I had as a child was Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever. This was how I learned a lot of my nursery rhymes.


His trademark characters illustrated dozens of books for children. Word books had detailed drawings with dozens of objects on a page, each one labeled. Stories often had some kind of a lesson in them. Many of these were featured in a place called Busy Town, which eventually ended up with its own TV show. Most of his books are still in print and he is just as popular now as he was back then. He is a valuable addition to any children's library.