I Spy Treasure Hunt: A Retrospective
10/24/2023:
I Spy Treasure Hunt is one of Walter Wick’s most impressive works of craftsmanship, using a gigantic HO-scale model town called Smuggler’s Cove to create a highly resonant, coherent environment to set a search-and-find book in. The story told by the series of photos captures a childhood fantasy quite well, that of being a pirate and following clues on a treasure hunt.
But that’s only part of the picture. Smuggler’s Cove is home. All model railroads capture a moment and a place in time, and Smuggler’s Cove feels more like my home and where I grew up than anything else in any other piece of media I have ever seen. I spoke about this earlier, talking about The Joy of Treasure Hunt, but that essay was mainly focused on the PC game. I Spy Treasure Hunt, the book, has every bit as much of that incredibly resonant quality as the PC game does.
Arrival
Stepping off of the train in Smugglers Cove, you have made your Arrival. This is a fantastic scene that immediately establishes what makes this book unique. Instead of an abstract landscape of stuff or a fantastical scene like a spooky gate, Treasure Hunt immediately grounds itself in the real world, or at least a slightly vintage painting of the real world, as model train layouts tend to be.
This change in subject matter changes the composition considerably. There are more small, fine details than in any book before, such as all of the posters on the station, which each have readable text,and the hikers on the hills in the background. By contrast, the more discrete objects in the riddle, such as the seahorse, scissors, and penny, stand out by being absolutely enormous compared to the rest of the HO scale scene. That contrast between these oversized common objects and the extra model train layout gives an interesting and unusual character to this book in every scene shot on the layout.
That said, I completely love the way the common objects are integrated into the scene. Some of them are just unceremoniously there, like the penny and scissors, but others are almost disguised as features of the town itself, such as the water tank made of the baseball, and the satellite dish made of the thumbtack. It’s a fantastic way to conceal findable objects, and makes this whole model world feel like I Spy is built into its foundation.
Even beyond that, the composition is truly excellent. The page seam is used to create interesting and fun symmetry between the train station and warehouse across the tracks. The train station is very busy, full of people coming and going, and the warehouse has a lot less activity, but more stuff accumulated around it. The whole scene is very relatable, the buildings are quite authentically New England. The bulletin board especially is incredibly authentic. Real estate ads, a Lighthouse Benefit Concert, a yard sale, a lost cat… this could have come straight out of my hometown. This scene is truly excellent.
View from Duck Pond Inn
Standing on the porch of Duck Pond Inn, this scene is delightful. The rhyme for this one is particularly notable. There’s only three lines of findable objects, the entire first line is dedicated to establishing where the viewer is. This is a development from playtesting, as Jean Marzollo found that children did not always understand the transition from the previous scene, so that line was added to spell the transition out. This same technique is used a couple more times in this book. It’s a slightly clumsy way of handling scene transitions, but the composition itself more than makes up for it.
This is such an authentic town green. The stores here and their placement are absolutely on point. A seafood restaurant, a marine supply store, a boat shop, an antique store, and a teeny tiny lobster shack on the dock, this feels like so many places near my childhood home. I love the little peek of the harbor between the buildings, with the horizon visible, it really helps set the tone perfectly. It’s a busy little town green in the summer, and it feels just so right. There’s even a one way sign around the green, making it technically a roundabout! What could possibly be more authentic than that?
There are fewer recognizable objects hidden in this scene, and the rhyme accommodates for that, focusing more on props that are in scale. The most noticeable common object, the pencil eraser in the back of the pickup truck in the lower center-left, clearly conveys the incredible scale of this scene. An insane amount of craftsmanship went into every single inch of this model train layout, not just to make a lively scene from a nearby viewer’s perspective, but to fill every inch of the camera frame with objects to find. The prop density is similar to other I Spy books, but because the scene is tangible and grounded, it’s all the more impressive. It’s not just stuff for stuff’s sake, it’s a true lively world… that’s still completely playable as an I Spy book. I love this scene.
The Treasure Chest Store
Strolling across the town green, you arrive at The Treasure Chest Store. This scene is totally different! Instead of being on the main model railroad layout, it’s instead a stand-alone scene that zooms in on part of the layout. If you look really closely on the previous page, you can see that there’s a little flat facade of this scene in the upper-left corner where the treasure chest store is. How adorable!
Looking at this scene specifically, I cannot help but think about how far Wick has come in his craftsmanship. The scene is a big stack of vintage toys and antiques, a familiar subject matter, but it’s very vertical, reminding me of Blocks from the first book. However, instead of being a completely flat facade of unit blocks with a few scattered toys, there’s an incredible amount of depth. The space feels incredibly tangible and real, exactly like looking in the window of an old, full-to-bursting antique store.
I love how the faded gray of the window frame matches the faded colors of the antiques. It reminds me so much of all the antique stores I’ve visited in coastal towns up and down the east coast. This one reminds me the most of the one I visited on Sanibel Island in Florida. That place was the real deal, absolutely stuffed full with an incredible range of old stuff, just like this great scene!
The Map
Reaching into the basket of nautical knick knacks, you find The Map. This scene is super different, focused on a huge illustration, instead of a more complex set, and I think it works really well! I love the illustrated story on the sides, there’s just a delightful energy to the clouds of cannon smoke and all the details of the ships. It properly feels like the kind of treasure map you’d fantasize about finding as a child.
The map itself is also interesting, of course. Compared to the story, the map is pretty simple, but the details are quite fun. I like how the layout of the town green is recognizable, though some buildings like the train station obviously aren’t there yet. The labels on the map also give a subtle bit of foreshadowing. A decent amount of the labeled locations will be the sites of future scenes.
t’s more than just a map, though, there’s a collection of maritime stuff all around it, it feels like you’ve rolled out the map inside a busy table in the treasure chest store itself. The rhyme doesn’t just have you search the map, there’s things to find all around it, too. It’s a fun, well-made scene that feels quite unique.
View from the Fort
After following the map, you behold the View from the Fort. This scene is the color of my soul. This is one of the most resonant images I've seen in my entire life. This is a fragment of my memory rendered in visual form. This feels like the warm memories of summer by the sea in their most ideal form. This image is as much home as home could ever be, if home can be a fictional place. This is my favorite I Spy scene of all time.
The grand panorama of the town from above reflects so much local detail. The little house surrounded by boats, the bridge going over the creek, the lighthouse on the point, the nearby island with ruins, everything is absolutely on point. I love the brilliant visual of the dirt road that forks off from the main road and winds around the peninsula to the lighthouse. That’s a brilliant piece of local detail. The model train layout here is absolutely enormous, yet all of the rich detail makes the town feel so, so real. The level of craftsmanship is unmatched.
And then, following the riddle and looking closer… there’s as many findable, recognizable objects in this as in any other I Spy photo. There’s an entire second layer of details as you play the game of I Spy and look around towns for funny stuff like a tortoise and a hare. I love how a lot of these findable objects are integrated into the town in different ways. For example, the hare is a trail in the upper-right corner of the town, and if you look closer, you can see a horse rider there. A pine cone and a paintbrush are hidden in the forest, blending in with the trees’ silhouettes from a distance, but visibly standing out when you look closer. Finally, I’d like to draw attention to the duck pond. It’s both a duck-shaped pond, and a duck pond with a duck in it. Brilliant!
This one is incredibly profound. The fusion of model train layout and I Spy photo is at its absolute pinnacle here, an incredible tour-de-force of photography and modeling. The rest of Treasure Hunt can be a more relaxed victory lap after this one, and it certainly will be.
The Tree House and the Waterfall
After spotting it at the fort, you arrive at The Tree House and the Waterfall. As a contrast to the majestic panorama of the View from the Fort, this scene is quiet and relaxing! This one reminds me so much of roaming the woods in the summer as a child. The distinct color of the foliage, the leaf litter on the ground, the blue of the sky peeking through the green… and the majesty of the lighthouse, just barely visible in the distance.
This scene evokes another specific memory in me. As a child, there was a big fallen tree in a clearing on a trail I’d walk on a lot with family and friends, and we’d always stop in the clearing to play on the big tree. One day, the town had removed the tree completely, since some limbs had started to rot and threatened to fall on somebody, but they had left a plaque there, noting how beloved the place was by the children who visited it. This feels so very much like that clearing used to feel.
I really like how there are fewer props out of scale with the model. The only really oversized things in this scene are the pinecones scattered around, and even those feel pretty natural. The scene really just feels like an immaculately rendered little slice of New England coastal forest. It’s such a cozy, intimate, delightful scene.
The Barn and the Lighthouse
After spying it in the distance, you arrive at The Barn and The Lighthouse. This scene has an incredible atmosphere. The lightning effect is incredibly cool, and gives this scene an ominous tone unlike any other scene in the whole I Spy series. I love how lighting alone is used to completely change the tone of the model train layout. In previous scenes the gray rocks and green foliage around the lighthouse look bright and welcoming, but in this scene, they’re very blue and cold. It’s impressive how much lighting can change how a scene looks.
The flow of this image is also absolutely immaculate. The road spirals and meanders around the lower-left thirds intersection, reaching the barn at the upper-left thirds intersection, before going straight across to the lighthouse itself, positioned squarely on the upper-right thirds lines. Even the stream of water in the lower-right follows the thirds line up to the lighthouse. Every single element of this image is leading your eye to the lighthouse.
There’s still a lot to enjoy in the little details. There’s a few things here that aren’t present in The View from the Fort, such as the visitor and their car, and the little white dog on the road, which helps show the passage of time. It’s really nice to see the details from the larger view of the layout up close, such as seeing the rock wall where an old bridge used to be, and the little boat along the shore. This is a truly excellent image.
Shelter from the Storm
As you approach the lighthouse, you slip into the barn to take Shelter from the Storm. This is a superb, minimalist scene. The light peeking through the cracks in the gray wood of the barn creates a mysterious, almost spooky atmosphere. This is an incredibly familiar feeling to me. This image conveys exactly how it felt to hide in a shed as a child, seeing the sunlight peek between the boards. I’m reminded of the feeling of the wind rushing through, the sense of shelter broken by the openings in the shed.
The riddle for this one is interesting. For how understated the scene feels, there’s a surprising amount of stuff to find, with the riddle giving 18 things to find, including 7 horseshoes. It’s neat, representing passing time during the storm by giving a riddle with a lot of things to find. This kind of thing indicates how much mastery Wick and Marzollo have developed over their format by this point, conveying narrative details with elements of the photo and rhyme in harmony. I love the contrast between the tone of this one and the previous one, feeling like a moment to take a breath before the treasure hunt’s final act.
The Cave
Descending through a trapdoor, you enter The Cave. I don’t have quite as much to say about this scene. The riddle, specifically, is not terribly notable. I do like how both the way forward and the way back to the previous scene are visible, though, it makes this scene act as an effective transition.
I also really love the color palette of this scene, it feels exactly like the kind of rocks and sand around New England. The lighting sets the tone of this one very well. Instead of the mysterious, cold lighting of the previous two scenes, the lamp and the view of the sea makes this scene feel warm and inviting. It feels triumphant, like you’ve found a secret.
As a child, I used to dream about finding little caves like this, wanting to make a hideout like other kids had in books I read. That never came to pass, as Cape Cod doesn’t really have enough rock for there to be a cave like this, but those memories have remained.
The Beach
Emerging from The Cave, you arrive at The Beach. I love how the progression of time is represented in this scene. The storm has cleared, and the lighting is back to how it was before. It’s a lovely summer day in New England again. The lighthouse is visible again, helping give continuity with the previous scenes. The shipwreck itself also has continuity with previous scenes, where it’s visible from the fort, but is carefully hidden by the camera angle in Shelter from the Storm.
And what a prop the shipwreck is. It’s an incredible centerpiece for the photo, creating interesting shapes and silhouettes with the gaps in the board. To fit the island in the background, Wick really did separate it from the full layout and positioned it in the background of a larger beach set. It's a really cool way to both show the model train layout and a close-up set at the same time.
I also like how most of the findable objects are hidden on the beach. It evokes memories of roaming beaches as a child, looking for lost objects to collect. Even the way the props are rusty and faded is familiar, items left on the beach can get pretty weathered. I’m also really glad the beach is depicted as rocky. It’s how a lot of beaches naturally look in northern New England, and it helps to ground Smugglers Cove in a familiar, cozy reality even more.
There’s one other element of this familiar reality that I really like in this scene. A variety of boats can be seen all around, from a little rowboat on the beach, to a giant cruise liner in the distance. I really, really like this. I find that a lot of pirate media focuses on the golden age of piracy, with sailing ships, planting their stories firmly in the distant past. In this book, the familiar nautical culture of the present is the focus, and I love that. It’s such a small thing, but I feel that it’s a great detail that makes this scene shine even brighter.
Looking Through Binoculars
Looking Through Binoculars, you get a nice view of the island. This is a great sendoff to the model railroad layout, being the last scene shot on the layout. Compared to the grandeur of the previous scenes on the layout, this one is more compact and detailed, similar to Arrival. I like this a lot, it’s excellent the way Treasure Hunt can show the incredible scope of the layout, by zooming out and showing a grand panorama, and the incredible detail of the layout, by zooming in and showing just a section of it. It really captures the appeal of model railroad building that way. The framing of this scene contributes to that feeling of zooming in even more, by placing the close-up of the island within the reader’s binoculars.
There are just so many little details to appreciate. I love all the boats around, that’s an incredibly authentic detail. I used to go to little nearby islands on my friends’ and family’s boats, which were both sailboats and power boats, and this reminded me of that. I also like how both of the boats hide findable objects that are called for by the riddle. I also like the other detail called for by the riddle, the “wishbone tree.” In model railroading, tree armatures are made out of lots of different things, sometimes including actual sticks. I’ve also sometimes seen them called tree skeletons, so this feels like a little in-joke about model railroading. It’s cute! This is a great scene.
Treasure at Last!
After noticing the well on the island, we find Treasure at Last! This is an incredibly unique scene to end the book with. I love how unusual the framing is, with the glowing treasure right in the center of the frame, but not taking up a lot of space. Around the treasure, everything is cast in black and gray, the contrast of which makes the treasure appear to shine even more. I also like how naturalistic the surroundings of the well feel, with just some plants, gravel, and moss visible, it helps contrast with the treasure even more. All of this framing makes the treasure in the center feel like a grand reveal when you turn the page and see it, it’s very well done.
I also like how the rhyme has mostly objects in the treasure, but also has a few of them scattered around the edges of the scene. It feels appropriate to do that, showing that there’s things to find even in mundane elements outside of the treasure itself. That kind of thing is in line with the spirit of I Spy. Finally, I love the note left on the well. The riddle draws attention to it, and it feels like a great note to send out the whole I Spy series on:
Conclusion
I Spy Treasure Hunt is an absolutely fantastic book. Wick elevates his craft even further by incorporating elements of model railroad building to create a grounded and detailed world, which you are invited to explore by the game of I Spy itself. The whole book is full of authentic New England detail, it feels so much like my memories of growing up.
Treasure Hunt is technically the final original I Spy book, but despite this, it doesn’t really feel like the end. With all of the challenger books, re-releases, and successor series over the years, I Spy has never truly ended. The series has a genuinely timeless quality. I feel like the photography, with the focus on common, relatable objects, lends to that timeless quality. Though the books are aimed at children, the level of craftsmanship on display, and the gameplay that encourages you to properly take time to appreciate it, still makes the books appealing to older audiences. Revisiting all of these books and writing about them has been a great experience.