''I Spy'' is a
children's book series
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
with text written by
Jean Marzollo
Jean Marzollo (June 24, 1942 – April 10, 2018) was an American children's author and illustrator. She wrote more than 100 books, including the best-selling and award-winning ''I Spy'' series for children, written completely in rhythm and rhy ...
, and photographs by
Walter Wick
Walter Wick (born February 23, 1953) is an American artist and photographer best known for the elaborate images in two series of picture book activities for young children, ''I Spy'' (1992 to 1999) and ''Can You See What I See?'' (2002 to 2013), ...
, which was published by
Scholastic Press
Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...
. Each page contains a photo with objects in it, and the riddles (written in
dactylic tetrameter
Dactylic tetrameter is a metre in poetry. It refers to a line consisting of four dactylic feet. "Tetrameter" simply means four poetic feet. Each foot has a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, the opposite of an anapest, som ...
rhyme
) accompanying the photo state which objects have to be found.
Although the first ''I Spy'' book contains unrelated pages of still life pictures, subsequent books are more thematic.
Several video games based on the ''I Spy'' books are available for
Windows PC,
Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
,
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
,
iOS,
Leapster
The Leapster Learning Game System is an educational handheld game console aimed at 5 to 10-11 year olds (preschool to fourth grade), made by LeapFrog Enterprises. Its games teach the alphabet, phonics, basic math ( addition, subtraction, mul ...
, and
Game Boy Advance, including ''
I Spy Spooky Mansion
''I Spy Spooky Mansion'' is a Point & Click PC game developed by Black Hammer Productions and published by Scholastic in 1999 based on the ''I Spy
I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight ...
'', ''I Spy Treasure Hunt'', and ''I Spy Fantasy''. These served as early examples of an increasingly popular
hidden object game
A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...
genre.
''I Spy'' merchandise has been sold in at least 31 countries worldwide.
Wick stated in a 1997 news article, "My career can really be put into two categories: before ''I Spy'' and after ''I Spy''. ... The success of the books has been really nice. I never got that lucky break in my commercial career, but all of that hard work ... was usable for ''I Spy''."
Authors
Jean Marzollo
Jean Marzollo (June 24, 1942 – April 10, 2018) was an American children's author and illustrator. She wrote more than 100 books, including the best-selling and award-winning ''I Spy'' series for children, written completely in rhythm and rhy ...
was the award-winning author of over 100 books, including ''Help Me Learn Numbers 0-20'', ''Help Me Learn Addition'', ''Help Me Learn Subtraction'', ''Pierre the Penguin'', ''Soccer Sam'', ''Happy Birthday Martin Luther King'', ''The Little Plant Doctor'', ''In 1776, Mama Mama/Papa Papa'', and ''I Am Water'', as well as books for parents and teachers such as ''The New Kindergarten''.
Walter Wick
Walter Wick (born February 23, 1953) is an American artist and photographer best known for the elaborate images in two series of picture book activities for young children, ''I Spy'' (1992 to 1999) and ''Can You See What I See?'' (2002 to 2013), ...
is the author and photographer of the best-selling series ''
Can You See What I See?''.
Carol Carson Devine, the book designer for the first ''I Spy'' books, is art director at Alfred A. Knopf Publishers. She has designed covers for books by
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...
,
Joan Didion,
Alice Munro,
Bill Clinton and
Pope John Paul II.
See also
*''
I Spy Spooky Mansion
''I Spy Spooky Mansion'' is a Point & Click PC game developed by Black Hammer Productions and published by Scholastic in 1999 based on the ''I Spy
I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight ...
'' (1999)
*''
Ultimate I Spy
''Ultimate I Spy'' is a 2008 video game developed by British studio Gusto Games and published by Scholastic for the Wii home console. The game is based on the books. The game combines aspects of party video games and adventure games
An advent ...
'' (2008)
External links
Jean Marzollo Website ''I Spy'' Page Walter Wick Website ''I SPY'' PageScholastic ''I SPY'' Page
References
{{Portal , Children's literature
Series of children's books
Puzzle books
Scholastic Corporation books