Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets and Songs

by David Borgenicht

The show that has taught over 70 million of us to count is turning 30! To help celebrate this milestone, Hyperion presents the ultimate insider's tribute to "Sesame Street"--a one-of-a-kind volume that lets readers relive all the classic memories, games shows, animation, and parodies through actual scripts, rare photos, celebrity flashbacks, and hilarious anecdotes. 400 color photos. NPR sponsorship.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Tv, Childrens, Reference, Music, Biography

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 1998

About the author

David Borgenicht is the creator and co-author of the best-selling WORST CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK series. He is also the author of dozens of other books, including THE STAR TREK BOOK OF OPPOSITES and HOW TO CON YOUR KID. He is the president and publisher of Quirk Books (www.quirkbooks.com), Philadelphia-based publishers of entertaining, informative, and amusing fiction and non-fiction.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is totally awesome. Good for nostalgic moments, but fascinating to consider the depth of the show's educational impact.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty much everything you could ever want and/or need to know about Sesame Street (the good years, just before Elmo, Zoe, Baby Bear, and their other little thugs completely took over) in one handy volume - the show's pre-history and beginnings, character sketches, profiles on the people and puppets, scripts of famous moments (even just reading the script from when they talk about Mr. Hooper's death makes me cry!), and even a look at some long-forgotten characters (I still say Roosevelt Franklin and Don Music got a raw deal). Lots of fun reading here.

[Tiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting that certain characters had to be removed as times went on because of political correctness. I had forgot that for years no one seen snuffy and they thought big bird was making him up. I liked reading about Snuffy, grover and the count. It was neat to see where the ideas came from.

[Brooke Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS AWESOME. It was published in the late 90's, so it has all the original stuff and the photos and print quality are gorgeous.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's cades old and filled with wonderful history, information, and anecdotes in a magazine format.

[Leah]

"So Far" in 1998

With Sesame Street's signature song in the late Joe Raposo's manuscript (or facsimile thereof) creating both front and back endpapers, "Sesame Street unpaved" is a coffee-table style book with far more energy, zing, brightness, and excitement than the scenic photography of most hard-bound big books. Photographs, drawings, and text tell us who, what, when, where - and maybe especially how - it all came to be. Great memories for those of us who remember the show's early days, or a great gift for kids just now beginning to explore worlds out there and in here.

[Zayn Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one handy volume, you'll find pretty much everything you could ever want or need to know about Sesame Street (the good years, just before Elmo, Zoe, Baby Bear, and their other little thugs completely took over) - the show's prehistory and beginnings, character sketches, profiles on the people and puppets, scripts of famous moments (Reading the screenplay from when they discuss Mr. Hooper's death made me cry!) and even a glance at some long-forgotten characters (I still say Roosevelt Franklin and Don Music got a raw deal). It's a lot of joy to read this.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this book has been published, Sesame Street has marched on for over twenty more years and counting. Despite Sesame Street Unpaved's age, this book proved to be an immediate joy the moment I cracked it open. Thanks to all the classic moments it helps relive and the treasure trove of facts, this book is still a wonderfully fun addition to the library of any Muppet fan.

[Jo Besser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of the stuff they mentioned in the book I knew from reading other books on the Muppets and Sesame Street. There was a lot of stuff I didn't know as well. Not so much a novel, but a coffee table book. I still recommend picking it up and reading it and connecting with your childhood.

[Scott Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great exploration of Sesame Street. There’s a strong focus on the muppets with bios of the main characters and collections of their most famous songs, poems, and sketches. There’s also information on the live action cast and the Muppeteers.

[A.K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, bought it when it first came out. It's one of my prized possessions. Am a huge fan of Sesame Street, and the Joan Gantz Cooney organization's work in children's media.

[EuroHackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 30th anniversary book - totally iconic 💖

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aww such a nostalgic read, the good old days being a kid and watching Sesame street :)

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a lot of it was just “filler”. Maybe my expectations were too high.

[Cindy Pao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book is good for my soul!

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's not to love about going to the "street"? I think we all can say that we wanted to live here even if only in our imaginations...one of the best children's shows of all times..next to Mr. Roger's Neighborhood of course.

I bought this when if first came out and have read it many times since then...I even let my son look through it with me...he loves watching it on PBS when a have a day off or a snow day (I even secretly like watching it with him). Once I started getting to old to watch it, I used to watch with my younger sister so I could keep up with my street friends. I was born in the 70s so I started watching it from the early days...I always liked Grover (I still have my Grover stuffed character that sleeps on my son's bed).

Every time I look at this book, it brings back wonderful memories...Grover, Ernie & Bert, Roosevelt Franklin, Snuffleupagaus, Big Bird, and of course who could forget Mr. Hooper. The book also shows the behind the scenes activities that make this the great and wonderful show it is. I always wondered how they were able to make it so realistic for kids and help kids without even realizing it. This show is one of the reason why I decide to pursue education as my life calling. I remember learning spanish words which influenced me to take Spanish in high school and visit Mexico.

I am not sure if this is still in print, but if it is take time to look through this book and remember your Sesame Street days. Definitely would recommend this to all fans of the show.

[Doree Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a delight to read. It's written for grown-ups, but I don't know if it's meant to make grown-ups long to live on Sesame Street. I must admit that is the desire it brought out in me. When my kids were little we watched Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street and little else. So I was already a fan. But reading about the progressive principles behind the characters and concepts was inspiring to me. The brains and hearts responsible for this program are absolute heroes in my book! I chuckled a few times as something in the book reminded me of ways I have used Sesame Street songs, phrases, characters as teaching, distracting, or diffusing moments as my kids were growing up--techniques I had long-forgotten about. I dare you to read this book and not have warm-fuzzies in your heart and a grin on your face the entire time. I also dare you to read it without needing at least one cookie!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's not a history but rather a collection of songs, skits, photos and profiles on muppets, the human characters and muppeteers. It has a bunch of cool trivia and also a section on how muppets are made. The skits and character profiles brought back fond memories...I had forgotten about Don Music! (The muppet who sat at the piano composing songs and would bang his head on the piano out of frustration when he couldn't get the right tune. He was later cut from the show after some thought he was showing children violent behavior.) All in all the book brought back memories of the good ole days before Elmo completely highjacked the show.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely an improvement over the 1st Sesame Street book I read, though many of the anecdotes were the same from each. There was also way too much of the actual scripts from the shows in here. I guess what I really wanted was a tell-all book where we could find out what Maria really thought about Luis, but I don't think that book exists with any credibility yet. I really loved that it showed the puppeteers actually working the Muppets, which I've been dying to see. I can now say I've lived a fulfilled life.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published as a 30th anniversary tribute to the inconic educational children's show, Sesame Street. The book itself is done in the style of those annual Guinness Book of World Records - a photo book of Sesame Street trivia and nostalgia, with an interspersing of the educational and historical implications of the show.

Not something you'd read all the way through, but a fun "yearbook" style of nostalgia, great to sample when you have kids enjoying their stay on Sesame Street.

I pulled this book out again recently, as I also have Street Gang on my TBR pile.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and amazing walk down memory lane and tons of fun to read and sing out loud while you go. If you were ever a kid then this book is for you. And if you ever weren't a kid then I don't think I want you reading this review or having anything else to do with me, unless of course you're from Ork or that new Brad Pitt movie, though I'd prefer it if you were from Ork because Mork was cool. In fact, they should come out with a book called 'Mork and Mindy: Unhatched' or something like that because that was a really awesome show. But as for this Sesame Street book, totally awesome!

[HeavyReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

My nephew had a copy of this book and when I went over to my sister's house, I would spend as much time reading it as I could. I was very pleased when my sister a gave me my own copy for my birthday.

The color photos are fabulous and I really like all the behind the scenes gossip and tidbits of information.

Anyone who is now or who has ever been fascintated by Sesame Street needs this book.

[Karetchko]

I once had a very funny conversation about this book. My friend Shawn and I hadn't seen each other in a while, and somehow we got talking about Sesame Street. I went, "Oh, there's this book! It's great! I'm wondering if you've heard of it!" and pulled it off the bookshelf. He was all, "come on, for me, this is like going, "Oh, there's this newspaper, maybe you've heard of it, The New York Times?"

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book when I was 16 years old. This is one of my favorite books, if you grew up watching sesame street every day like I did.....afraid to miss your favorite characters when you had to use the bathroom so bad you couldn't stand it...yep, that was me.....this book tells south about the characters. New, and old. This book brings back a lot of fond memories for me. And yes, I still own the book and still read it from time to time:)

[Emily Von pfahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having grown up with Sesame Street this book was a delight to read. I learned so much about the origins of the show and the performers, including that Carroll Spinney is man. He also has an autobiography that I have been searching for but haven't found yet. He intrigues me because he does the sweet innocent Big Bird AND the curmudgeon Oscar the Grouch. A must read for fans of the show, or parents with kids who are fans of the show.

[Al- · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born in '71, I love Sesame St, what else can I say?? I'll say this!- enjoyed learning about the charachters, how they were developed, how they grew and changed, why certain charachters were added or removed. SS really tried hard to stay ahead of the times and promote empowerment to children, and especially inner-city children and girls. Go Sesame St!

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this and my kids did, too!

Easy to pick up and put down - it's not a novel, but a lot of snips, pics and paragraphs. I love Sesame Street - probably more than the average parent - and always have. It was great to read a bit more into the background of the best show for kids (and grown-ups, too)!

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-live your childhood days of watching Sesame Street with this delightful book about the people and muppets who made it such a magical place. Equal parts biography, reminiscences, and favorite skits from the show. I wish there was a little more "meat" to it, but was definitely a trip down memory lane.

[Ella Catherall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK; when it said in the title that it was 'unpaved', I was ever hopeful that there would be more stuff about behind the scenes. However, the stuff that was mentioned was OK and the excerpts of script were great - I was however a little confused about why the songs/poems were in there. I really enjoyed the bits on the muppeteers.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit PC. Blurby and heavily illustrated. Not big blocks of text but still a worthwhile read. Totally glossed over issues like the early deaths of many of the contributors (Richard Hunt, Jon Stone, Joe Raposo, etc) and what actually happened to Northern Calloway.