The Best Word Book Ever, 1963 and 1991.

As a child, I obsessed over many Richard Scarry books. I liked What Do People Do All Day best, but I also remember this one fondly — The Best Word Book Ever. As a parent, I don’t think I owned a copy of this one — we just checked it out of the library every so often. This Flickr set is a wonderful discovery, documenting changes — some subtle, others not-so-subtle.

For instance, a father is added to a kitchen scene that previously featured only a mother; a mother pushing a pram is changed into a father; bows and ribbons are added to the heads of a steamroller driver and a bass drum player, and “cowboy” is removed from the options on a “When you grow up… what would you like to be?” page, and replaced with “gardener” and “scientist.”

https
://www.flickr.com/photos/kokogiak/sets/1425737/with/69578390/

Post was last modified on 18 Oct 2016 12:11 am

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  • The books served as my first dictionary, and likely helped foster my love of words and etymology.

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Dennis G. Jerz

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