Customer Reviews
Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever - By: Janet Laing, 01 Nov 2008 
I am delighted but not surprised that these books are all stillin print, my own children had several of these books,all well worn & loved. I am now buying for my grandson...This book is probably aimed a 2-3 year olds or younger if you can get them to sit still long enough & lead them into the magic. The detail & stories are just wonderful with so many different things to spot & see every day & night. But be careful,no chance of missing a page out a bedtime as the little darlings soon know every word & line.
So many stories - By: E. Peers, 03 Apr 2008 I had this book as a child & was delighted to see it still available. My daughter is two & always wants this book at bedtime. There is a great mix of stories, pictures & funny rhymes. My daughter & I love Goodnight little bear, it makes you feel all warm & fuzzy inside!
Fantastic book for children - By: Ms. A. R. Dance, 31 Oct 2007 This book was known as the "wow" bookin my family due to all the amazing stories & pictures. This book was handed down to me by my sister who loved having the stories read to her.
My favourite was "The eggin the hole" - I think it was called this - I asked for it every night & knew it off by heart. I loved the bright pictures that not only were fun to look at but were also very educational. It also contained stories about people who lived or visited other countries - another favourite was Schtoompah, the Funny Austrian.
I don't think my Aunt realised what a wonderful gift this book truly was. I now buy it for my friends when they have children & highly recommend it. Well worth the cost.
Oodles of Richard Scarry and I Am a Bunny, Too! - By: Donald Mitchell, 13 May 2004 Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuablein a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading & improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure & able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.
To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, & asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever was one of her picks.
This book was my daughter's choice night after night during the years from ages 3-6. The stories are all vividly colored, humorous, & reasonably short. They just suited her perfectly.
She would plead after each one, "Just one more story, Dad." (This was after her mother had read to her, as well.) I would read until I had almost no voice left. Eventually, we negotiated that she could pick two stories from this book, & if I wasin the mood (andin good voice) we could go up from there. Otherwise, bedtime would have been delayed for hours!
If you don't know Richard Scarry, he has a wonderful, light sense of humor. He usually features intelligent animals, butin human-like contexts. This makes the moral of the story easier for the youngster to swallow, while making the story more interesting. For example, A Castlein Denmark is about the rules that you should followin a castle (or a house) such as not leaving things on the floor where people can trip on them. Who else would have come up with such a wonderful way to help establish household rules?
The storiesin the book contain all the elements neededin a preschool book, with lots of alphabet, numbers, socialization, & charming stories with important lessons attached. The book includes one of my daughter's all time favorite stories, I Am a Bunny by Ole Rison. This story was repeated like a mantra around our house by all four children. It is a great beginning reader story.
The stories varyin sophistication from simple ones to mini-mysteries involving detectives. My daughter especially loved the mini-mysteries.
Here are her favorite storiesin the book (in the order they appear):
The Rabbit Family's Home
I Am a Bunny
Work Machines
Pip Pip Goes to London
A Castlein Denmark
Couscous, the Algerian Detective
Officer Montey of Monaco
Pierre, the Paris Policeman
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse by Patricia Scarry
Schtoompah, the Funny Austrian
From a value perspective, it is much less expensive to buy these storiesin this form than to get themin the various Richard Scarry books. Of all the story books we bought for our children, this one was definitely the best value. I suspect it only cost about a penny per hour used. Running the television costs more than that!
Some readers have complained about the binding. Ours is a little loosein back after four years of hard use. For such a thick book, that's about par for the course. If your child is a hard user of books, you may want to get a new copy at some point.
After you have finished enjoying this book for the 4,317th eveningin a row (if you have a large family), I suggest that you think about how these stories could be made even funnier by changing the context. For example, a castlein Denmark could become Cinderella's castle after she married the prince. What rules do you suppose Cinderella would have wanted to have? In this way, you & your child can exercise your imagination to have even more fun.
Take great stories & build on them . . . together with your child!
BUY THESE BOOKS for your children - By: , 15 Oct 2003 If you've never heard of any of the titles by Richard Scarey, please ensure your children do. This guy created a wealth of characters & colour. There isn't a child on this earth that hopes that animals are actually really like thisin the world somewhere & Richard Scarey confirms that using imagination & good old fashioned learning through fun - I'll have none of this Teletubbie nonsense thank you.
Certainly a childhood friend for me!
