Busy Day, Busy People: 03/18/23

Busy Day, Busy People by Tibor Gergely (1973), one of my favorite picture books, is two weeks older than I am. I decided to re-read it and review it after realizing that it's written and illustrated by the illustrator of Scuffy the Tugboat by Gertrude Crampton (1946)

The book covers some typical (of 1973) activities seen in a big city. Given the design of the subway, the model city is probably New York. Things shown include a construction site, a post office, a grocery store, and a hospital.

In the hospital there's a nursery with a masked nurse holding up a newborn. That baby might as well be me, since I'm so close in age to this soon to be 50 year old book!

Another detail I like is at the television studio where a show is being broadcast live — something not done often here in California given time delays. The show the boy is watching is The Wizard of Oz but it's clearly drawing from the original 1900 book.

Dorothy is wearing silver slippers. The Wicked Witch of the West has a pointed hat and an umbrella.

The book is a bit dated in how gendered the jobs are. There are no women at the construction site, nor at the fire station. But the people shown are diverse. For now it's more of a time capsule on how things were instead of how things are.

Five stars

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