The Wink

A number of years ago, when my niece Susan was very young, I was reading her a book by the well known children’s author and illustrator, Richard Scarry. Scarry, known for works like “Busy, Busy World” and “Best Word Book Ever” filled his pages with lots of cartoon animals engaged in human activities.

Susan loved books and would ask me to read the same ones over and over. Some of these were mind numbingly boring to any sane adult. The act of reading became a chore rather than a pleasure when these books were involved.

One day my niece asked me to read a new book. This one was by the afore mentioned Richard Scarry and, though it has been many years since I last read it, I believe the title of the book in question was “The Early Bird.”   Though the title remains vague one particular illustration stayed in my mind:  That of a father bird sitting at the breakfast table and eating a hard boiled egg. 

My niece did not notice but, at the time, I thought: “Am I seeing things? Did this guy really just show a bird eating an egg? What kind of a sick and funny guy is this?”

At that moment, the book got a whole lot more interesting to me. Richard Scarry had just given me a wink. He was communicating directly with me, the adult reader, through an inside joke. I was no longer reading just to my niece but to myself. What other little jokes was Richard Scarry sending my way? After that I read all Richard Scarry books with a great attention to detail. I was fully engaged.

That moment has never left my mind and it comes to mind frequently when I see a toy, game or book that manages to speak to the adult and child at the same time. Fortunately, we have for some time now seen a lot of books and movies that appeal across the generations (think Harry Potter or any Pixar production). 

We need to see more of this in games and toys. Why, because it is going to become increasingly important that we create toys and games that engage the entire family. I think that intergenerational play is going to become far more important to the toy industry as families look for ways to engage and entertain each other at home. Mom’s love Wii because it engages the entire family on each individual’s own terms.

We have some highly creative inventors and writers at work today and they know the real trick to creating great, intergenerational products; toys and games is to engage the child and the adult without boring one or overtaxing the other. Our best is yet to come.