What Do People Do All Day?

1968, possibly first edition, from Random House
Richard Scarry
What Do People Do All Day?
Probably given as a newish gift, $3.95 sticker on the front
Poor condition hardcover
B

This is the first picture book in the project, and probably one of the books I've owned the longest.  On this reread, I was surprised at how sophisticated the vocabulary is.  The book can be enjoyed by toddlers, with all those details to pore over, but I probably didn't read it on my own till age 7 or so.

What most appealed to me then (and now) is the sense of a complete society, or at least the busy town of Busytown.  There are all the little shops and businesses, homes and roads.  The cover illustration gives some sense of the layout of the town, with the school and library on the back cover.  Scarry's buildings have an old-fashioned, sort of European feel, and it's no wonder I grew up to love the look of Tudor buildings. 

As for what "people" do all day, the anthropomorphic animals (mostly mammals, except for Lowly Worm and Bugdozer) work hard all day.  The jobs seem to be mostly in construction, farming, and sales, although we also get to see the crews of a boat, a train, and a plane.  "Children are workers, too.  Many children are helper workers.  Are you a helper?"  These kids are, although they sometimes aren't very good helpers.  Comical mishaps are many in Scarry's world, sometimes due to the recklessness of adults, like Wild Bill Hiccup, the Indian raccoon who causes traffic accidents.

The mild racism has apparently been omitted from later editions.  The mild sexism is more noticeable.  Women are mostly mothers, grandmothers, and "helpers" of the men, as with Nurse Nelly (the cat) and Doctor Lion, or Captain Reddy the (fox) Pilot and Sarah (the cat stewardess).  Yes, there are a lot of cats, although not as many as there are rabbits.  Huckle Cat is very happy when a rabbit family moves in next door, over 30 new playmates!  There are also a lot of mice, some of whom just stand around observing other people work, like reader surrogates.

To get back to Busytown, their nearest neighbor is the equally industrious Workville.  (No Lazyhippieton in this county!)  The two mayors get together on a road construction project.  Like everyone else, they carry their money in transparent bags.  But crime is so low that there are only two policemen, one on day shift, the other on night shift. 

It's not clear where the boat, train, and plane go to, but there's a gopher who cries, "Attendez, s'il vous plait!" when he misses the train, and the sleeper car has a "Don't disturb" sign in five languages.  Then when they arrive, one pig cousin is dressed like a French military officer (sort of Napoleonic, which would amuse Orwell), while the female is dressed like a "squaw," papoose and all.

Other things of note.  When Mommy Cat gives Grocer Cat a smooch for buying her a new dress-- "She earned it by taking such good care of the house"-- she lifts him off the ground and he looks like one very happy tom.  And this book has what was one of the scariest illustrations of my early childhood:  the brush salesman on p. 23.  He's an octopus whom Mommy Pig is trying to shut out, but his head and arms have made it in.  Not only is he showing off the various brushes, but he's holding up a mirror to Sally Pig, to demonstrate the toothbrush.  She's smiling close-mouthed but the reflection shows big, scary teeth.  Very creepy, especially to a 3-year-old!