I Spy: A Retrospective
11/17/2022:
As is clear from the entirety of website, the I Spy series is near and dear to my heart. It is not an overstatement to say that revisiting the series and taking inspiration from it to make my own photography has been a life-changing experience. Over these last few years, after analyzing the books and reading every interview and piece of commentary I could find, I have quite a lot to say about each of them.
So I thought that it would be fun to do a retrospective series! Go through each book in release order, talking about each photo, and my thoughts on each of them. This isn’t exactly a review, there aren’t really any bad I Spy books, it’s just a retrospective, a walk through the entire body of work with all of my thoughts. With that out of the way, let us begin with the original I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles!
Blocks
The first I Spy book begins with Blocks, a relatively simple composition that does a good job of establishing how I Spy works. In terms of subject matter, Blocks is a simple still life, but there’s still quite a few things happening. At the time of publication, there was a big push to integrate unit blocks into kindergartens, so the choice of subject matter makes sense. One of the core appeals of I Spy is how it uses common objects to create big scenes, and unit blocks are a highly effective medium to do so.
There are also some other details that suggest more imaginative play, such as the little baby dolls sliding down the ladle, and the cars along the bottom of the structure, as if it was a road. Additionally, blocks are unevenly arranged but carefully balanced to stand, lending a pleasing asymmetry to the picture that encourages the eye to keep moving and keep noticing more details. Some other recurring motifs begin in this image too, such as Wick’s fondness for clowns and game pieces, with a few dice and dominos scattered about.
The rhyme also contributes to the simplicity of this image. Most of the named objects only come up once, other than the eleven bears, which helps to keep the eye moving and look for recurring patterns. Additionally, looking for the letters in HAND establishes the convention of using capitalized words to indicate words you have to find. It also establishes what I call a sub-game, a step in the riddle that is not just finding a specific object, but finding multiple things that come together to make something different. The sub-game will go on to become a mainstay of later books.
It’s not the most intricate or thematic scene, especially with the plain white background and relatively flat composition, but Blocks successfully introduces a lot of the ways that I Spy will work in the future.
Toys in the Attic
Toys in the Attic follows Blocks, and is a much more cluttered and dense scene, with the presence of more illustrated objects. It serves to establish another one of Wick’s recurring themes, building a whole scene out of vintage toys and game components. The scene is chaotic and messy, without any particular game being set up, giving the sensation of opening up a box of keepsakes in a grandparent’s attic.
The rhyme of this one also has some cute details, such as asking for “a horse that rocks, a horse that rolls”, and asking for “a lion and eight other cats”, introducing wordplay and object groupings. Overall, though, this photo is alright! It’s not particularly important in the overall series, and I don’t have a strong personal connection to it, but Toys in the Attic is a cute, cozy scene.
Odds and Ends
Odds and Ends is also not a particularly stand-out image, on its own. The image does have some historical significance, though. Odds and Ends highly resembles one of the original photos that inspired the entire I Spy series!
Carol Devine Carson, a book designer for scholastic, was inspired by a photo of Wick’s that she saw in a magazine that showed a scene of floating hardware. She commissioned him to create some photos for one of Scholastic’s old kindergarten magazines that Jean Marzollo was in charge of. This partnership would eventually lead to the two of them creating a book, that being this very one! This photo shows the evolution of that initial inspiration, finally appearing in Wick’s first whole book for Scholastic. Aside from this history, though, the photo is not particularly remarkable.
At The Beach
Keeping with the themes of this book, At the Beach is another simple photo, showing the common toys a child might bring to the beach. The most notable thing about this composition is the sandy backdrop that adds significantly more depth than the flat backdrops of the previous images. Things in the riddle are able to be hidden in the sand itself, such as a footprint and the letter S in SANDY.
I have a particularly close connection to this photo, more than most of the other images in this book. I strongly connect this image with some of my very earliest memories of preschool, going to beach day with all the parents and all the kids, playing on the little beach along the marsh in the warm summer sun. This image strongly reminds me of all the toys everybody would bring to the beach and put in one big pile together. At the Beach is a lovely, warm scene. Not particularly complex or intricate, but it resonates with me personally.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts brings back the kindergarten imagery, showing a vibrant scene of colorful objects and art supplies.The big dove in the background adds a surprising amount of depth to the image, and shows that objects can be any size, even as a part of the backdrop. Unfortunately, I don’t have that much to say about this one. It’s a fine and cute scene, just not terribly remarkable.
Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board stands out from the other images in this book as a kind of composition that never really happens again: an arrangement of photos and flat props. Other images in later books will have cards, or be entire painted scenes, but very few scenes in the future will have other photographs in them.
The lighting in this scene is also quite notable, lit much more warmly than the cold, daylight-like temperatures of the previous scenes. This suggests a warm, homely atmosphere, as opposed to the fluorescent lights of school. The presence of photos and all the extra density of detail also creates a very busy, lived-in look. It can almost be too dense sometimes, with how much is happening in each photo, especially with how small some of them are.
I also have distinct memories associated with this image. This image reminds me of the house of a friend I used to visit frequently in elementary school. They lived in a very old house with two other siblings, so family photos and art that they made was up all over the walls. They also kept very warm lights, so all this together really places this scene there, in my mind. We drifted apart after elementary school, so this image exists at a very specific time in my memory.
Bulletin Board is a fascinating example of a type of scene that would never really happen again in this series. It stands out among the more basic scenes in this book, which have far more iterations in the future. This scene is a highlight of the entire first I Spy book.
Make Believe
There's a couple of photos in the middle of this book that I don't have a lot to say about, and Make Believe is the first of these. The composition isn't particularly remarkable, it’s yet another scene of props on a white table, and the riddle isn’t that unique. The shadows in this one feel particularly busy, and add a lot of dense detail that doesn’t really contribute to the scene. The colors are at least a bit distinct, standing out with the vibrant, artificial pinks and purples.
The impression I strongly get from this scene is that Wick wanted to create an image of props that represent how younger girls generally play, with dress-up accessories and makeup items. That’s the main thing that stands out to me from this one: the choice of props feels more specifically gendered than the other images. Otherwise, the scene is just fine.
Nature
Nature is the other one here that’s just more props on a white table. It’s a fine composition, the natural objects give a nice earthy color scheme. The whole scene reminds me of children’s museums I would visit in elementary school, where there’d be an exhibit for looking at natural items under a magnifying glass.
This one is just fine! Later iterations on this photo concept will be much more interesting and dynamic, but as a first version, this one is just alright.
Cubbies
Cubbies is another photo that will be iterated on later! Having a number of discrete boxes with sorted objects in them is a really nice way to create a satisfying search-and-find image. I particularly like the variety in this one. Some cubbies just have a collection in them, such as the horses and ducks, while some contain almost a little scene unto themselves, such as the little study in the lower-right corner, and the stacks of dominos and game pieces.
I like how the cubbies at the very top and very bottom of the frame are visibly empty. In later books, Wick would purpose-build a set to keep everything perfectly framed, instead of using a set of cubbies he found for this purpose, so those would definitely not be visible in later books. That kind of idiosyncratic detail reminds me of the concessions I made early on in my own search-and-find photos. You can see something similar in The Magician. (put a hyperlink here). Overall, I like this one a lot! It’s a good first version of a recurring concept that will eventually become truly excellent.
Round and Round
Round & Round is as simple as it gets. At first glance, it’s yet another set of props on a white background, but this one stands out. There’s just something inherently satisfying about a collection of similar objects, and Round & Round is quite a nice collection of round things. The difference in size of all the different objects greatly helps the composition, breaking up the scene into a number of discrete areas. I have surprisingly strong memories associated with this one. I distinctly remember liking this one a lot in preschool, though I’m not sure why it was a favorite of mine.
The riddle for this one is odd, it never asks to find multiples of anything, so it has some of the fewest objects for a riddle in the series. There’s not quite as many props here as in other scenes in the book, so that makes sense. I find this one quite pleasant! It’s yet another photo that will have more iterations on it as the series goes on, both in terms of being a collection and using hoops to separate things in the scene.
Toy Chest
This is a good one. The density of toys is really satisfying, and adds a lot of depth. The toys are vibrant, but just a little faded, so they look well-loved. It’s not particularly thematic or evocative, it’s just a pile of toys, but the density and vibrancy here really makes the scene work. The riddle isn’t that unique, but I can forgive it, given how satisfyingly busy the scene is. I like it a lot! Not much else to say!
Tiny Toys
Tiny Toys is incredibly iconic, as it is used as the cover of the book. The subject matter isn’t that unique, it’s yet another collection of toys, but the composition stands out. Setting up the scene so it looks like all the props are floating is something Wick will use in almost every book going forward. I find that it really speaks to one of the core appeals of I Spy. The scenes are made of common objects you could find anywhere, but are arranged and photographed with expertise that makes them look remarkable. The illusion of the objects floating really adds a lot of depth to these kinds of scenes.
This is another photo that will be iterated on again and again. There’s 1-2 of these “floating objects” photos per book, and seeing them evolve over the course of the series is delightful. This scene is great, one of the better first iterations of a recurring photo concept.
Silhouettes
As the finale to this book, Silhouettes is more low-key. The dark objects and pastel background suggests twilight, the sun setting on this first I Spy project. It’s a fun way to recontextualize these common objects, showing how they can look very different under other lighting conditions.
The real stand-out from this page is the rhyme, though. It starts out easy enough, but ends with a truly excellent surprise: “I also spy something from every other page.” This is the first time I Spy will bring the book full circle, with a huge sub-game that ties all the other images together. (Side note: looking at this image now, I actually think every object in here is from another page!)
The image is simple, but evocative, with its striking color scheme, but the riddle elevates this one so much more, making it a great end to the first book.
Bonus Material
The book ends with an excellent bonus: a Find Me riddle. This will go on to become a mainstay of the I Spy series, and a core component of Can You See What I See after that. This first Find Me is quite straightforward, as the frog has a distinct silhouette, though Wick does a good job hiding it in clever places throughout the book.
Included in later printings of the original I Spy are Extra Credit Riddles, which challenge the reader to match up the riddle with an image elsewhere in the book. I have never done these, but they help show the incredible density of props and rhymes in each photo. The Extra Credit Riddles add more gameplay to each book, and are a welcome addition.
Conclusion
The original I Spy is a pleasant journey through the imagery of kindergarten. Though there are a few too many similar images, a lot of scenes of props on a plain white background, the photography is professional, balanced, and well-composed. There’s just enough variety for the book and the gameplay to not get repetitive or boring.
In the greater context of the series, however, the original I Spy feels like a prototype. The photography is detailed, but not quite as evocative as later books. The feelings are more general tropes of childhood, instead of highly specific images. My revisit to this first I Spy book has been quite enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing the evolution of these books as Wick and Marzollo hone their craft and become picture riddle experts.