Do you remember the popular books by Richard Scarry?
Books from your childhood?
Like many other people, I grew up reading these books.
And now I read it to my children.
Richard Scarry’s best fairy tale book of all time
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
If that doesn’t ring a bell, then maybe this character from the TV series “Busytown” will. Classic!
Apple Car.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
Scarry was an incredibly prolific children’s author and illustrator, creating over 250 books throughout his career. His books were popular around the world, selling over 100 million copies in many languages.
But here’s something you may not have known about these classics: they’ve slowly changed over the years.
Don’t panic! You have changed in a Good Away.
Scarry began publishing books in the 1950s, when times were, well, a little different, so some details have been quietly updated.
Alan Taylor, senior editor of The Atlantic’s photography department, noticed differences back in 2005 and decided to photograph them. From his Flickr album:
“The 1963 edition is my own, which I bought in the late 1960s when I was a toddler and then read to pieces. The 1991 edition now belongs to my children. I was so familiar with the older edition that I immediately noticed some differences, so I have catalogued 14 of the more interesting differences here in this collection.”
Taylor found 14 pages of differences between the original version and the updated version.
Here are eight changes that reflect some of the progress society has made:
1. First of all, the cover has been redesigned. At first glance, this may seem inconspicuous, but look closely.
Richard Scarry’s best word book ever
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
The original features a woman (a bunny) in the kitchen, while the updated cover features both a man and a woman (still bunnies) in the kitchen. Also: the “cop” bear became a woman and the caption became “cop.” The word “mailman” became “mail carrier,” and a farmer’s wife was added. Oh, and we went from a mommy cat pushing the stroller to a dadmy cat! Progress!
(The bunny brushing her teeth in the house was changed from a boy to a girl, but I won’t go into that because hopefully all bunny children brush their teeth, right? I mean, for the sake of their little bunny teeth!)
2. Men can be flight attendants and women can be pilots. And they don’t necessarily have to be hot.
Pretty stewardess to flight attendant.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
While the gender of each role has remained the same in the newer version (which is, unfortunately, quite legitimate given the glaring lack of female pilots in real life), the stereotypes have been eliminated by making the “handsome pilot” more of an everyday “pilot” (raccoon?) and the “pretty stewardess” a run-of-the-mill flight attendant.
3. Christmas is not the only holiday that people celebrate.
Adding the Menorah.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
Psssst: Don’t tell this to the Starbucks Christmas cup haters, but there are a lot more winter holidays than just Christmas. The newer version of the book included a menorah in the blank space to honor those who celebrate Hanukkah.
4. Mama bears are no longer expected to prepare breakfast for papa bears…
Papa bears are just papa bears.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
…and the subtle change from “called to breakfast” to “goes to the kitchen to eat his breakfast” reflects that.
(Side note: Do papa bears really want to be treated like bear cubs by being called to a meal where they have to show up on time? I don’t think so.)
5. And you know what?! Dads can cook too! (Even daddy bunnies.)
Fathers can cook too?
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
And Richard Scarry’s book has been updated to reflect the late 20th century realization that everyone belongs in the kitchen!
6. Helping professions are not just for men.
No more cowboys.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
The updated version took this fact into account by changing “cop” to “policeman” and “fireman” to “firefighter”. The ever-important job of the cowboy was eliminated ( sigh …how many career hopes and dreams were dashed?), replaced by a gardener and a scientist, both of whom are female characters. Three cheers for women in STEM! Also: the milkman was replaced by a taxi driver, but I’m pretty sure that had something to do with the fact that the profession of milkman (or milkwoman) is no longer on the rise.
7. Ordinary people need to be saved too.
Cat is in danger.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
The newer version dispenses with the “beautiful screaming lady” (sigh…like many career hopes and dreams…oh, wait – none) and replaced her with a regular “cat in danger.” The “jumping gentleman” label was removed entirely and the “fireman” became a “firefighter” again.
8. “I” stands for “ice cream” – not a stereotypical representation of Native Americans.
Add the cone.
Images via Alan Taylor/Flickr, used with permission.
We’re still waiting for our football teams to catch up with the times, but the people behind the remake of Richard Scarry’s book have eliminated the “Indian” character with the stereotypical clothing.
Yay, progress! And before you shrug your shoulders and say “It’s just a book,” listen to this:
Florida State University recently conducted “the most comprehensive study of 20th century children’s books ever conducted in the United States.” As you can imagine, they found a gender bias against male protagonists, even in books about Animals – Books like those by Richard Scarry.
Janice McCabe, the assistant professor of sociology who led the study, wrote:
“The widespread pattern of underrepresentation of women that we find supports the belief that female characters are less important and interesting than male characters. This may contribute to feelings of insignificance among girls and privilege among boys. The gender inequalities we find may be particularly strong because they are reinforced by patterns of male-dominated characters in many other areas of children’s media, including cartoons, films rated 6+, video games, and even coloring books.”
It’s pretty cool when you consider that these changes were made at least two and a half decades ago! That’s something.
And we need more changes! Children should be able to read books with same-sex couples and characters with disabilities because these are everyday events and books are a great introduction to the world for children.
Does anyone else want to modernize other classic children’s books so that we can share them with our children with a clear conscience?
This article was written by Laura Willard and originally appeared on 11.11.15
