I Spy (book series)
I Spy is an American children's book series, first published in the 1990s, with text written by Jean Marzollo, and photographs by Walter Wick, from Scholastic Press. Each page contains a photo with objects in it, and the riddles 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, Wii, iOS, Leapster, and Game Boy Advance, including I Spy Spooky Mansion, I Spy Treasure Hunt, and I Spy Fantasy. These served as early examples of an increasingly popular hidden object game 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 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 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, Joan Didion, Alice Munro, Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II.