If you visited Google today, you might have noticed a chaotic illustrated scene with a dog police officer, kitty cat on a tricycle (where is the tricycle lane?!?!), a lion doctor, and firefighting pigs helping out a cat—and that's because today is the 92nd birthday of children's book author and illustrator Richard Scarry. And if you look at search pages, you'll notice the "L" in Google is Lowly Worm!
Scarry passed away in 1994 at the age of 74, but generations of children have learned about themselves and their clothes, their towns and the alphabet, and maybe even about pie robberies through his charming, incredibly detailed illustrations. Besides Lowly Worm and Sergeant Murphy (the cocker spaniel cop), the Busytown crew includes Goldbug, Huckle Cat, Mr. Fixit, Bananas Gorilla, Hilda Hippo, and Farmer Fox. Check out the opening to the animated series:
According to the Washington Post, Scarry once wrote, "It’s a precious thing to be communicating to children, helping them discover the gift of language and thought." And you can see other Google Doodles here.
