Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #478 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

About the Author
Louise Gikow is an Emmy Award–winning author/composer of more than 150 scripts, books, and songs for kids and adults, including scripts for Sesame Workshop. She was editorial director and creative consultant at Jim Henson Productions for eleven years. She also created and ran a publishing and multimedia division at Nickelodeon. She lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

not everything I would like, but highly recommended
This is the most comprehensive overview of the iconic PBS TV series Sesame Street on the market, and by being the newest (prepared in honor of the 40th anniversary of the series), it's the most current. Still, those looking for the ultimate history of Sesame Street will be a little disappointed. It appears that the writer (and Sesame Workshop) made a conscious marketing decision to chase a wider audience with Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street.

By trying to cover everything Sesame, a lot of the historical depth of previous books like Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets, and Songs (1998) and the recently published Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street is eschewed in favor of a "coffee table book" approach. To that end, this book is bigger and more colorful than any other book on the subject, and it appears to be by design. Whereas Unpaved was overdesigned and a little light on a lot of Sesame folklore, and Street Gang was remarkably deep but a bit boring to read, Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street is highly accessible, reads easily and covers so enough information that all but the most ardent Sesame Street fans will enjoy it immensely.

If you buy Sesame Street: A Celebration of 40 Years of Life on the Street, an extensive bibliography is included that covers all the things it missed, as well as a DVD of the first Sesame Street episode with a bonus montage of highlights from each of its forty seasons.

I was somewhat disappointed with the book's lack of technical detail, as I am one of the ardent Sesame Street fans, but I personally encourage you to buy this book, because I still really enjoyed this book.

For All Muppet/Sesame Street Fans
What an amazing book! It's HUGE though. Not a snuggle up to read kind of book. But well, well worth the price. Great pictures, tons of information all about Sesame Street and the Muppets. A must for all fans.

Iconic show, amazing book
I use Google as my main search engine. All last week they featured characters from Sesame Street on the homepage. The first day it wasn't even a whole character - just some banded orange legs. I bet there are very few people who didn't identify them as Big Bird's appendages!

At forty years, Sesame Street is the longest running children's television show. It's now seen in 120 countries. I was already in school when it first aired, but remember sitting with my little sister and watching it with her when I got home. And then twenty years later, watching it with my children. The theme song is still easily recalled: " Sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away...."

The show is iconic and the book is amazing. It's a wonderfully heavy coffee table book. Glossy stock and over 1500 colour photographs. But it's the stories within that make it such a keeper. Founder Joan Ganz Cooney realized that television could be educational as well as entertaining and broke new ground in broadcasting that has both matched the test of time and stayed two steps ahead, always finding new ways to teach and reach children.

I loved the behind the scenes stuff - how and who is behind and in and under those Muppets? The set itself and the changes it's undergone. Scripts are reproduced, songs, anecdotes, art and oh, so much more. The 'real' folks that appeared are featured as well, as are the celebrities who did guest appearances.

I had such fun, enjoying every page - and it's not a book to be rushed through - there is so much to take in and relish.

And if that wasn't enough, there's a bonus DVD included, featuring clips and moments from the show. I remembered so many of them!! I was singing along to "Who are the people in your neighbourhood?", "One of these things is not like the others..." and a few more!

As Gordon said on the very first show Nov 10, 1969:

" You've never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You're gonna love it."