The frowny pig toy in the jumble of orange things post was the famous Pig Won't. When you flip the pig over, he becomes Pig Will.
Kids love this book even though it's a basic etiquette book. They chuckle at the rudeness of Pig Won't at first, but soon kids see he would be a complete drag to go anyplace with because he's so obnoxious-- bad behavior ends up being tiring for everyone and ruins many an outing. Very controversial now, because Pig Won't does get a spanking from his mommy -- the book will probably be altered at some point because of this act of violence, but the pig parents are loving and simply refuse to allow Pig Won't to act like a complete A-Hole. In the end, he becomes a better and happier pig and wants his nickname changed from Pig Won't to something more positive. 
And speaking of name changes, Lowly worm was a nice character who came under scrutiny for having a name that might cause him to have low self esteem. 
So far, Lowly has resisted having a name change forced on him by concerned parents. When I asked him about it he explained: "I may be just a working class worm, but I have pride in the family name. The Lowly family has got nothing to be ashamed of!" Some of Richard Scarry's books have been simplified since kids can't always understand the wording. (he sometimes used British or old fashioned expressions, and these were modified or deleted for American readers.) I miss the bits that were removed, and in some cases a lot of charm was removed with the bits.
In Other news...
This car almost ran me down on Thursday. (what would happen to my blog if I was completely flattened?) I was walking along, (having just taken the pics of lowly worm in his apple car) when this Honda Accord driven by an elderly man lurched up onto the sidewalk. I had to leap out of the way (insert small heart attack here.) He showed absolutely no remorse (he didn't even seem to see me at all.) I waited until he was parking and went over to take a quick snap. (Just watching this zombie try to park his car was totally worth the wait.) So if you see this car, you've been warned.
