Richard Scarry's The Great Pie Robbery and Other Mysteries Hardcover – August 5, 2008

My 4 year old daughter loves this book! It’s very fun

I used to love Richard Scarry as a kid, but I don't actually remember this book. I took a gamble on it and bought multiple copies to give to my friends' kids for Christmas. First - and most importantly - my friends' kids love it. One friend's two-year-old twins like it for the bright colors and pictures. Another friend's 3.5-year-old daughter likes it for the stories, but maybe mostly for the animal drawings. I read it myself, actually, and it's not a bad read for adults. (I mean, I wouldn't bring it on a plane with me but you know what I mean.) It's actually a fairly long book, with three different stories. The detectives are comical and there are some Lieutenant-Frank-Drebbin-from-Naked-Gun antics in the book that are nuanced enough to make this a decent read-aloud for parents. (I am not a parent myself but have some friends who complain about some books being more painful than others to read aloud 857 times a day.) I highly recommend. Great value for a hardcover kids' book.

I can't say I'm a huge Richard Scarry fan. I guess I didn't grow up reading his books so they just aren't exactly my cup of tea. Quite a while back a local fast food restaurant was giving out Richard Scarry board books as their "Under 3" toy in the kids meal and my daughter wanted us to read the Pickle Car book to her over and over again. Occasionally when a Richard Scarry book came up as a recommended book for us I would check it out but it wasn't until I came across this one with all of its good reviews that I decided to take the plunge. I'm glad I did because like I mentioned in the title, my 4 year old daughter really likes it. It's still not my favorite but certainly tolerable for reading to her almost once a week at bedtime.

My son loves The Best Mistake Ever and Other Stories by Richard Scarry. I figured this would go over just as well. Not really. We read it once and he hasn't asked for it again. The stories are OK, not spectacular. It seems to be a lower level than The Best Mistake Ever, so maybe my son is just too old for it? He is 5 and normally enjoys a wide variety of books, from easy ones to more complex. I am still giving this book a 4 because I always loved Richard Scarry as a kid and I think this book would appeal to kids in the 2 and 3 crowd quite well.

New niece got a big kick out of the anthropomorphic animals from a different moral era. Their innocence is a real treat in this era of rather permissive and entitled children's characters. Delightful details with lots going on in the background, (like Bruegel's Icarus). Admittedly, sometimes political correctness is unheard of in this land, but that's okay. It is of its time.

This book was a surprise for my 5 year old to get an introduction into the world of mystery. It is obviously not meant for older children who would like to read more intriguing mysteries. But it was great for my son, who has never read a mystery book before. The great steamboat robbery is my son's favourite, where Mrs. Pig's pearls get stolen. Sam cat and Dudley pig are our fabulous detectives, who can solve any mystery in no time. It gets the little minds thinking, and trying to pick up clues themselves. Richard scarry books have always been a presonal favourite of mine. I came across them only now, after I had children. I value them, because they are so good for introducing new concepts to little minds.

I can't imagine raising children without owning a stack of Richard Scarry books to read them. This one, Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, and his collection of stories, (probably titled The Best Storybook Ever or words to that effect) lived at my house for at least 2 decades. If I had a buck for every time I read one of these to my kids, I'd be rolling in money now. We wore out 3 or 4 copies of each one. So buy this book and read it to your child. They'll love it, and so will you.

I got this for my 6-year-old daughter to balance out a book I was buying for her brother. I knew she liked the show "Busy Town Mysteries" and I thought she might enjoy it. Boy was I surprised! It instantly became her favorite book and I have to read one of the three stories for her EVERY night. It's PERFECT for her reading level, with a good balance of words and pictures (she's a pretty advanced reader, so I'd guess this is about end-of-first-grade or beginning-of-second-grade reading level). I also like that there are three different stories, both for the convenience and the value. I highly recommend this book!

A big favourite of mine when I was small, and likewise with my younger brother. We always used to look for the character 'Lowly Worm' in the pictures (he's in a lot, but he's small, and hard to find), and the one odd thing in the crashed orange lorry picture, and, best of all, the miniscule 'Spy' who appears all through the book. See if you can find him. I bought this for my two year old nephew, the original hardback being a tad fragile now, and he loves it, mainly because there are a lot of cars (usually upside-down) in it, and all the myriad characters and other interesting things to look at, which is why Richard Scarry is so loved. I read the book through before giving it to the little lad, and it's joyfully anarchic tone still made me laugh. Get a copy. Now.

Used to read these stories with my grown up children when they were small. In fact we could probably recite them off by heart.Bought this for my little grandchild for Christmas, and all the 'grown ups' enjoyed reading it again! The 'mysteries' are well told, and the illustrations are delightful and full of life and interest.Would definitely recommend.

Brilliant!! Not short like some of the Scarry stories. There was suspense, smart problem solving as we'll as good prevailing over evil which I believe is appropriate for this age group (3+)

4 and 7 year old grandchildren never tire of this.

As expected.