Play set:Mayor Fox's Town Center

In the middle of the 20th century, artist and writer Richard Scarry produced more than 300 children's books and sold over 150 million copies worldwide. Scarry's career took off in the 1950s when he began working for Little Golden Books. By 1963 he produced "Richard Scarry's Best World Book Ever," a large-format book with illustrations and identifications of more than 1,400 objects for little ones to learn. The big book sold more than 7 million copies. Two years later, he brought the diversity of peoples and cultures from all over the world to young readers in the 33 stories of his Busy, Busy World series. By the mid-1970s, it just seemed natural that youngsters so familiar with the Scarry books and characters would play with Richard Scarry's Puzzletown construction sets made by Playskool. The toy company offered five different sets, each featuring a popular character from Scarry's many stories. Playskool encouraged parents to buy all five sets, boasting: "The 5 Puzzletown sets, available individually, can be combined to create Richard Scarry's exciting World of Puzzletown!" The sets included wood boards for building houses, shops, health centers, farms, and railways and included figures of familiar characters such as Huckle Cat, Dr. Lion, Mayor Fox, and Lowly Worm. The sets encouraged children to use their imaginations in configuring their homes and shops several different ways. Playskool assured the parents: "Children use all these pieces to build and rebuild any way they wish!"