Jean Marzullo obit

Jean Marzollo, 75, Dies; Her ‘I Spy’ Books Challenged Children

She was not on the list.

Jean Marzollo, who sent millions of young children searching through elaborate photo collages for an eclectic collection of objects in her “I Spy” rhyming picture books, died on Tuesday at her home in Cold Spring, N.Y. She was 75.

Her family announced her death. The cause was not given.

Ms. Marzollo wrote more than 150 children’s books, some factual, some fanciful, all imparting skills and information to young — often very young — readers.

There was “I’m a Seed” (1996, illustrated by Judith Moffatt), in which two seeds have a conversation and, over time, learn that they are different — one grows into a marigold, the other into a pumpkin plant.

There was “Ten Little Christmas Presents” (2008), in which 10 animals open gifts, one at a time — a counting lesson that also turns into a memory test when, on the last page, it asks readers to try to match each gift with the box it came out of.

Her signature, though, was the “I Spy” series, begun in 1992, in which Ms. Marzollo’s rhyming text invited the reader to try to find various objects and shapes in elaborate scenes photographed by Walter Wick. Every page was a visual adventure, the images often staged like an artwork.

One page suggested backstage at a theater, with evocative masks and costumes. Another was an aerial view of a seaside town, complete with clam shack and lighthouse. And the “I Spy” tasks Ms. Marzollo gave youngsters were more than just a game.

“While kids perceive that they are simply hunting for objects in a picture,” Jinny Gudmundsen, a columnist for Gannett Newspapers, wrote in 2006, describing a video-game version of the books, “this visual puzzle game actually teaches young children about visual discrimination, rhyming, vocabulary, word-object association and reading.”