Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sesame Street

I owe the discovery of this fascinating volume to Epinions. I don't quite recall how I happened upon the first review of Sesame Street Unpaved, but I read it and the others with growing excitement, thinking that this was a book I had to purchase for my brother, a Muppet enthusiast. Finding the book proved to be a frustrating endeavor; apparently it has been considered out of print for the past few months. I searched several local bookstores before Barnes and Noble assured me they had it in stock if they could only locate it. Several minutes later, two helpful employees returned with the book in tow, its normal twenty-five dollar price tag reduced to five dollars. I was quite pleased.

Since unwrapping it on Christmas morning, Nathan has browsed through the pages of this book with interest, pointing out things that strike him as novel tidbits of information or asking me if I recall a certain incident chronicled in the book. The book is full of history, explaining how the show came about and pointing out key moments in its development.

Colorful pictures pepper the nearly two hundred pages of this tome, interspersed with "Did you know?" circles, which feature a tweedlebug, and "Secret Fact" blocks, featuring the shady salesman Lefty. Both of these blurbs contain little-known facts about some aspect of the show.

The book is divided into five chapters. The first tells the story of how Sesame Street came to be and includes pictures of some of the Muppets looking very different from their current form.

The second, and longest, chapter features classic moments, divided into sections by character. This is the most comprehensive and coolest part of the book. Each character is given a small biography with likes, best friend, birth, hobbies, quote, philosophy, etc. The bio also includes a small list of stars sharing the Muppet's birthday and points out a similarity for each.

Also included are several quotes by the Muppets and the people who controlled them and lists of what each Muppet has taught us. You can take a Bert/Ernie personality quiz and learn to speak Martian. And you'll get a brief teaser of some of Kermit's greatest News Flashes and Cookie's best Monsterpiece Theater masterpieces. Many portions of scripts as included as well, so you can read an infamous exchange between waiter Grover and Fat Blue, attend the Ladybug picnic, watch Ernie outsmart buddy Bert once again, observe as Snuffy is finally introduced to Big Bird's friends, and relive the heartache as Big Bird realizes that Mr. Hooper is not coming back. This section of the book is very well done and covers hundreds of the shows best moments.

Chapter three deals with the cast of humans. Each has a biography similar in format to those of the muppets. Also included here are other acting roles throughout the years. After the humans, we get to meet some of the less well-known Muppets such as Betty Lou, Forgetful Jones, Sherlock Hemlock, Barkley and the two-headed monster.

Next comes a list of Muppets who have disappeared. Some biographies include the reason for their disappearance. The chapter winds down with an extensive list of celebrity guests. Those captured on photo include Danny Devito, James Earl Jones, Mr. Rogers, Barbara Walters, Siskel and Ebert, Paul Simon and Johnny Cash, just to name a few. We also get treated to a look at some of the celebrity-based Muppets, such as Meryl Sheep, Placido Flamingo, Polly Darton, and Ross Parrot.

Chapter four includes several songs that were popular on Sesame Street, and though other portions of the book slip songs in as well, I found this area to be rather deficient. There were so many great songs on this show, I found that the few provided simply weren't enough. I would have liked to have seen I Don't Want to Live on the Moon, Dancin' Myself to Sleep, Love, Love, Love, Love the Ocean, Doin' the Batty Bat, Somebody Come and Play and ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, just to name a few. Still, the songs provided were nice, and we got the words to such songs as Bein' Green, One of these Things, People in your Neighborhood, and, of course, Rubber Duckie.

Finally, the last chapter shows a little bit about how the Muppets are made and introduces us to the muppeteers. We also get a map of Sesame Street and a listing of how to say five Muppets' names in ten different languages. The section ends with a few questions from viewers, given answers by "Sez Me".

The book ends on a warm and cheery note with a farewell greeting from Oscar: "Hope you liked it. NOW SCRAM!" I suspect, however, that if you purchase this book, you will find yourself returning to it again and again. It is chock full of fascinating history, with plenty left over for a sequel. You may have to do a little digging to find it, but it will be well worth it.