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| Written by | Jeff Moss, Jerry Juhl, Emily Kaplin, Bob Oksner, Ray Sipherd, Norman Stiles, Jon Stone, and Dan Wilcox, verse adaptations by Albert G. Miller |
| Illustrator | Kelly Oechsli, Mel Crawford, Mary Lou Dettmer, and Mike Frith |
| Published | 1971 |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Series | Sesame Street Storybooks |
| ISBN | 0-394-82332-X |
The Sesame Street Storybook is a 72-page book of stories and comics featuring the Sesame Street cast. Published in 1971, this was the first in a series of large-format anthologies, the Sesame Street Storybooks.
Michael K. Frith, who would later become a key member of Jim Henson's Muppet team, was the Editor-in-Chief of the Beginner Books series at Random House in the early 1970s. Frith oversaw the annual Sesame Street Storybooks, and it was this experience with the characters that led him to a long career with the Muppets.
In this book, Frith illustrated "Grover Above and Below," "Cookie Monster Up and Down," and "Grover Near and Far." He also contributed the two-page illustration for the book's endpapers.
Kelly Oechsli contributed "The Princess and the Cookie," "Ernie Dusts the Shelf," "Oscar Chooses a Pet", "The Diamond D and the Dreadful Dragon," "Ernie's Six Delicious Cookies," and "The Magic Apple."
Mel Crawford illustrated "Shapes of Things to Eat," and drew comics pages based on Sesame sketches: "Ernie Presents the Letter A," "Ernie Presents the Letter Q," "Bert Presents the Number 5," "Ernie Presents the Letter U," and "Herbert Birdsfoot Explains the Word Full."
Mary Lou Dettmer illustrated the story "The Boy, the Girl and the Jellybeans."
The characters pictured in the book include: Bert, Betty Lou, Big Bird, Bob, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Grover, Herbert Birdsfoot, Herry Monster, Lefty, Little Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Roosevelt Franklin, Roosevelt Franklin's Mother, Sherlock Hemlock, and Willy.
The contents of this book and four of its successors, would be reprinted and combined to form The Sesame Street Library.
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Notes[]
- The endpapers of Sesame Street featured at the beginning and end of the book was reprinted in the 2019 book, Love the Fur You're In. At the end of the book, the illustration is presented with annotations identifying the characters, as well as the many in-jokes inserted by Michael Frith:
- Two of the children running in the bottom left corner are Frith's daughters Christina and Callee.
- Jim Henson and Frank Oz are seen in the upper windows of 123 Sesame Street.
- The "Elma and Jerry's Fine Cookies" poster refers to Jerry Harrison, VP of Children's Publishing at Random House at the time, and his assistant Elma Otto.
- A movie poster for "Merino's Revenge," a reference to the Harvard Lampoon sheep joke.
- An "Elect Theon Banks" sticker, referring to Frith's assistant at Henson Associates.
- Frith working himself into the piece depicting himself on a poster reading, "In Concert: Electric Frith."
- "Hi, Ted," alluding to Theodor Geisel, is scribbled on the doors to Big Bird's nest.
See also[]
| Sesame Street Storybooks
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