Help me find this book!

July 18, 2007 8:40 AM

Help me find a specific childrens book that shows illustrations of different professionals (fireman with his hose, doctor with his stethoscope, etc.) which depicts a "Salesman" in a cheesy checkered suit.

All I know is that the book is probably 20+ years old. My boss was describing this book that his daughters had when they were little and I would love to find him a copy. Thanks!

posted by nataliecay to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

I'm almost sure this is one of Richard Scarry's books, but I'm not sure which one. Something to ask your boss would be if the characters were animals. If they were real people, I'm totally wrong.
posted by MsMolly at 9:12 AM on July 18, 2007

Perhaps "What do people do all day?" by Scarry? I can't vouch for that exact illustration, but you can show your boss the link and search inside the book to see if that style is correct.
posted by enfa at 9:31 AM on July 18, 2007

boingboing had a post about this, focused on how the occupations and gender assignments have changed over the years as the book was republished. Search there on scarry.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:27 AM on July 18, 2007

I agree that this is probably a Scarry book, but there are so many. Perhaps you could go to the local library and page through a few of them. My brother had Richard Scarry's Biggest Word Book Ever, this would have been around 1978-80, and it was full of that type of labelled illustration meant to expand vocabulary. Good luck!
posted by Miko at 2:35 PM on July 18, 2007