The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook: Featuring Jim Henson Muppets

by Tony Geiss, Emily Perl Kingsley, David Korr

A collection of 12 read-aloud stories featuring the Sesame Street Muppets.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

64 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1978

About the author

Also scripted the movies Follow That Bird, An American Tail and The Land Before Time.

Reviews

[Chloe M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modren Fantasy
1st-3rd Grade
I found this to be a completely wonderful collection of stories with the beloved Sesame Street characters. Not only perfect for bedtime, but lovely for anytime one wants a simple but engaging short story. The illustrations are fetchingly colorful and there is much movement on each page.

[Devon Flaherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook, featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. It was published in 1978 by Random House.

I don't really know how or why my kids picked this book out of the stack that was left in the room into which they moved for the summer. (We are in the process of building a house.) What I do know is that I was expected some thrown-together junk, a cheap and quick re-telling of traditional fairy tales to use well-liked characters.

Not the case.

It could be my incredible rendering of the voices, from Elmo to Prarie Dawn, but my kids both really enjoyed reading a couple of these stories each night at bedtime, as did I. The stories were refreshing and silly, and sometimes even LOL. While you see the punchlines coming a mile away, it's still fun to read these stories out loud.

The book is not long at only twelve stories, but each story is longer than expected. And if you love vintage or just have a fondness for Sesame Street...

Note that this is bedtime stories. Sesame Street also has ABC Stories and 123 Stories, both of which we had as children and which I can tell you pretty much nothing about. I liked that these stories did read like bedtime stories, often about dreams or ending with sleep. Many of the old Sesame Street books get great reviews of Amazon, but I imagine you may have to turn to eBay to get yourself copies. (One of my favorite children's picture books is The Monster at the End of This Book, and, to a lesser degree, Another Monster at the End of This Book.)

Only problems: the illustrations were probably good by the standards of their day, but not so much today. Also, there is a ton of dialogue, as opposed to narration. I like narration better. Especially when voicing between Grover and Cookie Monster is making me hoarse.

***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***

[Suzanna Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still have no idea how this book ended up in our house when I was a kid because my siblings and I didn't watch or read Sesame Street. We ended up reading this book at least a dozen times to each other and by ourselves. Recently, I was looking for reading material for a student I was tutoring and found this again. Talk about being smacked in the face with nostalgia. This is perhaps the greatest compilation of stories Sesame Street ever put together from Grover skateboarding into a stone wall in a full suit of armor to the Count having a bad dream about someone stealing his thunder. The stories are funny and cute and very entertaining to kids, especially those with the attention span of a string bean. They don't make them like this anymore, that's for sure.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've reviewed and rightfully so since I've loved it ever since I got it as a gift. It never failed to calm my fears and put me to sleep whenever the monsters under the bed grumbled. Kind of ironic since many Muppets are monsters. If you ever see this book, read it and purchase it if you can. It made my childhood safe and special.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of stories for the kids starring the Sesame Street gang. We only read one story each night, so it took awhile to read the whole book. Our girls really liked these stories and we've read this book a couple of times.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my absolute favorite books as a child. It includes my first exposure to Romeo & Juliet with a delightful version of the story that sends grover catapulting over the wall between the Montague & Capulet estates. I recommend it for all children!

[Anna Loeppky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great collection of bedtime stories. One of the most popular being Grover and the Twenty Six Scoops. These use many different educational tools that allow the child to be learning while the parent is reading. This is great for early childhood readers.

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I finally found this here; it's another staple of my childhood.