Draft:Patricia "Patsy" M. Scarry

• Comment: Okay, she will surely pass our notability guidelines, but you need some more reliable, independent, secondary sources to show it - sources that are about her, specifically. asilvering (talk) 02:22, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

Patricia "Patsy" Murphy Scarry was a Canadian-born author of dozens of children's books who lived from 1923-1995. She wrote children's picture books and textbooks as well as television shows.^[1] She published over 40 books including The Sweet Smell of Christmas, The Bunny Book and Good Night, Little Bear.

Patsy was married to well known children's author and illustrator Richard Scarry. They had one child, Richard Jr. "Huck" Scarry and two grandchildren, one of whom is artist Olympia Scarry^[2]

Patsy was born in 1923 in St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Patsy's parents Laurence and Ellena Murphy had emigrated from Britain, soon after getting married in 1919 in Blackburn, Lancashire. She had one younger sister, Eileen. Patsy and her sister were raised by their single father after their mother died.^[3]

Once Patsy finished high school, she and her sister Eileen moved to Toronto where Patsy worked first at CBC radio, then at the advertising agency of Young and Rubicam. Patsy next moved to New York and worked as a copywriter at Young & Rubicam.^[4] There she met and married Dick (Richard Scarry) on September 11, 1948.^[5]

In 1951, Patsy and her husband moved from New York City to rural Connecticut, where she started writing for Little Golden Books. Patsy's first book was published in 1953 by Simon and Shuster, a Little Golden Book called Danny Beaver's Secret, illustrated by her husband Dick.^[6]

Patsy and her husband and son moved to Switzerland in 1968.^[7]

Patsy Scarry wrote under the name Patsy Scarry for years, then changed to publish under the name Patricia M. Scarry. In some subsequent editions of books that were written by Patsy and illustrated by her more famous husband, her name as author was omitted but his was present. eg "Richard Scarry's The Bunny Book" (1965 edition).

Inspiration for many of Patsy's stories came from family life. Good Night' Little Bear recounts a funny nightly ritual putting their son to bed at night. Jeremy Mouse is himself modelled on John Parr Miller, who was a regular guest in the Scarry's home. Characters and places in The Storybook of River Bend existed both in Patsy's neighborhood in Westport, Connecticut, as well as in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she wrote it. The stories in Little Richard and Waggy are reminiscent of things her son did as a child.^[8]

Patsy died in Gstaad, Switzerland at age 72.^[8]

Books

References