This is the book that teaches a two year old that things have names. Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm and Goldbug walk through the rooms and streets a small child already knows, and every object on the page is labeled: fork, plate, knife, bottle, ice cream, spoon. There is no plot to follow and that is the point. The child points, you say the word, and after a few weeks they start saying it first.

Scarry drew each object clearly enough to be identified and warmly enough to be worth looking at twice, which is a harder combination than it sounds. Adults keep finding new jokes tucked into the corners while the toddler is still working through the vocabulary, so the same twenty four pages hold two people at once.

A Little Golden Book with the gold foil spine and the sturdy cardboard covers the line has carried since 1942. Small hands can hold it open by themselves, and it costs little enough that a torn corner is not a tragedy.