Busytown

I love Busytown. I would love to visit this place, especially if animals could talk, have human occupations, and interact with each other in human ways. My sons and I visited Busytown so many times when they were children. We went on adventures with Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm, laughed at Wrong Way Roger's piloting mistakes, applauded Sergeant Murphy's success in catching Bananas Gorilla, gasped every time Mr. Rabbit proved his absent-mindedness, (especially when he got stuck in the hardening pavement), and tried to count all the rabbits in the Stitches family. We really loved "The Talking Bread" story (which my husband read aloud to us at dinner this evening). Was the bread haunted? Of course not! It just so happened that Humperdink the baker did not notice when Flossie's talking doll fell into the baking trough.

Yesterday's Google Doodle honored Richard Scarry (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2386426,00.asp). He would have been 92 years old yesterday, and his books continue to be a mainstay in children's literature. From Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever, first published in 1963, children have integrated many of the 1,400 words into their vocabularies. This talented man's work built a foundation for reading and love of language, all the while making us smile.