Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street Hardcover Book Review

Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street Hardcover Book Review

About this Book: The most beloved children's show of all time is turning 40! This celebration of four decades of groundbreaking educational programming invites fans young and old behind the scenes at 123 Sesame Street.

In a book as lively, energetic, and appealing as the television show it chronicles, readers are treated to an inside look at every aspect of Sesame Street. Beginning with the initial idea for the show and the creation of the pilot episode and moving through its evolution over four decades, Sesame Street provides an insider's view of all of the delightful Muppet and human characters, as well as the writers, directors, producers, and all the other creative people who continue to make learning fun for generations of kids.

Step behind the scenes and learn how the Muppets are built, how they move, how they speak, and what they think and feel. Did you ever wonder what Big Bird looked like in the first season of the show? Would you like to see the puppeteers behind (and under!) the set performing their roles? How about a picture of Bert being built? All of that and more, including facsimiles of the show's pioneering scripts and some of Jim Henson's original sketches, are included in this revelatory and adoring celebration. The 1,500 photographs—both in front of and behind the camera—come directly from the archives of the Sesame Workshop, and many of them have never before been published.

For everyone who fondly remembers learning the alphabet and numbers from Sesame Street, for parents and grandparents of today's Sesame Street kids, and for avid fans and collectors of everything Sesame, this gorgeous book makes a gift to be treasured.

Our Take: Jim Henson is where its at.  Sesame Street is where its at.  By default, this book is where its at!  I pick up a lot of books during a week.  I sift through a lot of press releases and book synopsis' to determine what I want to feature here on Book Legion for you all.  I would be lying if I didn't say that I was beyond excited to get my mits on this title.  I was never really into the Muppets, but Sesame Street!  Now, thats my cup of tea.  Or at least my inner-five year old's cup of tea!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book.  I figured it'd be one of those fluff coffee table books that had some nice full-color pictures and maybe some captions with anecdotes about the show's history.  I was blow away to open up a fully comprehensive history of the Sesame Streets show!

We're treated to a story of the pre-production and early production process back in the 1960s.  A ton of black and white photos and interviews with those involved in the show from it's inception are littered throughout the 304 pages of this book.  They really went out of their way to go above and beyond expectations for fans of the show.  We get a lot of inside information about the show and how everything evolved.  We get great pictures from the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s showing the puppets, puppeteers and the set. 

I cannot recommend this book enough.  Its in my top 5 books so far for 2010!  Book Legion fully endorses this book and recommends it for any Sesame Street fan.  Kids young and old will be able to enjoy this book!

Where to buy: Amazon.com or The Black Dog and Leventhal Website