Oscar has figured out exactly which pages in all of his books have pictures of cars or trucks or tractors or anything with wheels on them. He opens the book, flips til he finds it and sticks there. Reading to himself .... creeughhhh (that's my best transcription of his car noise). I try to turn the page to go on with the story but then we get stuck in this page turning tug of war and he always wins. So I went looking through his bookshelves for a book with wheels on every page. I found this golden book that I got at a rummage sale I think, Cars and Trucks. Copyright 1976, 1959, 1951. It's illustrated by Richard Scarry and it is fantastic! Every page is better than the last, all cool 50s style!

The full service gas station!

Did kids in the 50s really wear aviator hats and goggles to school?!

The happy farmers waiting for kitties to cross the road

And then you turn the page and there's this! Total 1970s! Look at Dad's mustache, the huge wide white belts, Mom's Carol Brady hairdo! Same kitty though.

So what the heck happened here? Is Richard Scarry still the illustrator of this page? 20 years later? Was there an original that was destroyed by the time they reprinted in 1976? Or were they trying to make it more current? Could they not find someone to more closely emulate Richard Scarry's illustrations? I'm so curious about this page.















