Richard Scarry Books Set of 2, Going Places & Fun with Words, 1971 Look & Learn Library, Golden Press

A great pair of oversized, hardcover 1971 Richard Scarry books from The Look & Learn Library, published by Golden Press in New York. The set includes Richard Scarry’s Going Places and Richard Scarry’s Fun with Words, both books measuring 9.5” x 11” and containing 176 pages.

Going Places takes Scarry’s wonderfully busy, detailed illustrations around the world, introducing different countries, people, occupations, and ways of traveling. It includes stories and scenes set in places from London, Paris, and Rome to Japan, Mexico, India, Australia, and elsewhere, along with sections devoted to cars, buses and trucks, aircraft and spacecraft, trains, ships, and boats.

Fun with Words combines short illustrated stories with labeled pictures and a picture dictionary, using Scarry’s animals, characters, and everyday scenes to introduce and reinforce words in a way that feels more like looking through a wonderfully busy picture book than studying a vocabulary lesson.

Both books have the characteristic detailed, colorful artwork that made Richard Scarry’s books so enduring, with lots of small characters, objects, signs, and activities for children to discover.

These are substantial books rather than small storybooks. The covers show age and wear from years of use, and a former child owner has written her name in marker on the cover of each book. The interiors are in very good condition, with the illustrations and pages remaining clean and bright overall.