Richard Scarry was a resident of my former hometown of Ridgefield, CT, as was fellow author-illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). My school's

Richard Scarry was a resident of my former hometown of Ridgefield, CT, as was fellow author-illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). My school's librarian recommended his books with particular pride. Come to think of it, a lot of children's authors seem to have lived in that area, western CT or eastern upstate NY. Some, including Judy Hawes and Jean Van Leeuwen, came to visit my school to talk about their books, reading in general, etc. In college I referred to the textbooks used by Management Information Systems majors as "Richard Scarry books" because they were full of colorful, busy illustrations and light on technical detail.