Big Bird's Red Book (Sesame Street)

by Roseanne Cerf, Michael Smollin (Illustrator)

A classic Sesame Street Little Golden Book from 1977, celebrating Big Bird and the color red!

A classic Sesame Street Little Golden Book from 1977 is back! Big Bird wants to show readers what the color red looks like. As he searches his bottomless shopping bag for some examples of red things, a slapstick-funny series of red-themed scenes appear behind him: red cars and trucks, a red-clad marching band, a red parade float, red fruit, and red costumes. Finally, he finds a bag of very squished red tomatoes. Girls and boys ages 3 to 6 will find this book great, red giggle-inducing fun.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor

24 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very 1970s but I love the humor in it. 4.5yo has asked for it twice in the last week at bedtime.

[C. (Don't blank click my reviews, comment please! · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Big Bird's Red Book”, 1977, by Rosanne & Jonathan Cerf and Michael J. Smollin is a familiar book from our childhood, in two copies. I did not remember the story but it was funny, in character-to-reader conversation, like “The Monster At The End Of This Book”. The latter was ingenious, whereas Big Bird was unrealistic, even though the intent of the jocularity came through and I laughed a lot of the time. A few things receive “Tsk! Tsk!” from me.

Rosanne's, Jonathan's, and Michael's artwork, who called himself “Mike” in the 1971 book, is vivid and gregarious. The city tableau is surprisingly busy with detail, when we notice individual items are drawn with economy. They are colours and shapes but clearly fill the crowded feel of a city. Knowing these are American characters, we imagine New York. It might be possible for this motley of things to appear in short duration: a parade, apartment fire, men arguing about cars bumping, old-fashioned police with a whistle, and a literal applecart that got upset! Two cute cardinals are incongruous. I wish to supply that females are beige-orange.

Page two drops a too-prevalent grammatical habit: “have got” contractions. Drop “got”. Leave it as the past-tense of “get” and just use “HAVE”! More serious, certainly, is not being alarmed even by a minor car accident. It is a relevant moral about missing real examples, if one is bent on following plans verbatim; likewise for religion. Sitting in tomatoes was dumb and wasteful. Big Bird knew that bag was on the bench. Missing a marching band and irate apple-seller are acceptable humour. Not checking on an accident and most appalling, Big Bird and a literal parade of people not offering to evacuate residents from a fire? Such unbelievably irresponsible reactions are never fit for joking.

[Amy-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that tells you not to get lost In what you think you need to be doing, but to look at what direction life is taking you. It was a comparison for us to see not to be in the teachers bubble when we teach. It shows us how students or people can get lost in what they are doing and miss the big picture. The moral of this story is don't. Watch out for all the beauty and information that is around you and take time to indulge in it. Allow life to present itself to you and not overtake it with pointless things.

[Inna Nako · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Big Bird is trying to describe what red looks like
-great for a variety of grades: lower elementary to teach the color red, upper elementary to teach the point of looking around you, not being stuck always on one thing
-While Big Bird is trying to find the red things in his bag, all around him there are red items, he just needed to look around

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read to us by Mrs. Sarah in class. We are to compare it to us as teachers.
We have great lesson plans and forget about the kids because the lesson was so cool. We forget that the students may already know what "red" is. Teaching is listening. We can get sucked into our lesson that we forget what is going on around us.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for not only teachng colors, but also teaching students to look at non-text clues. The students will remain entertained by all of the action that is happening in the illustrations of the book while Big Bird looks for his "red object."

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my favorites as a kid. Clever gimmick allows kids to pick up on all of the things Big Bird is missing.

We discussed this and more in our picture book spotlight on the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites as a kid. My kids don't appreciate Sesame Street as much as I do, but the old stuff is the best.

[Alexandria K · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite red things in this book are the red car, the red marching band, the red floats and the red tomatos.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

So funny! Poor Big Bird seems to have misplaced his mind. So many red things, so many slips Big Bird made. =)

[Christen Griego · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me think about teaching. I learned that not every lesson has to be a,b,c everything can go with the flow

[Caitlin Sabers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great metaphor for teaching, as well as entertaining for kiddos.

[Lisa Yi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute book about noticing details and not being so set in one's way of doing something.

[Su No-kwon · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book gave me a chance to think about learning and teaching in depth.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Bird’s Red Book was a book about Big Bird trying to explain the color red to the reader. Big Bird got very confused because he thought he put something in his bag that was red to show to the reader. Meanwhile in the background, a red car runs a red lit and hits a cart of red apples. The next page shows a red orchestra processing through the streets while Big Bird is still trying to find the red item in his bag. He gets frustrated in the end and decides to sit down on the bench he is standing next to. He accidentally sits down on his bag full of tomatoes and red goes everywhere!

The overall theme of Big Bird’s Red Book is to be observant about things around you. Big Bird is too focused on finding the red item that he can’t appreciate all the red that is around him. I think this can help kids understand that there is importance in the big and little details in life.

When I read this book, I thought it was very funny and could see myself as sometimes being a Big Bird. Sometimes I look too hard trying to find an answer when it is right in front of me. This book is definitely a mirror to every reader and is very fun to see the red things in the background.


I definitely recommend this book. I believe that children would love this book because its humor and the lesson included. It is very light hearted and silly.

[Gelo Arucan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was a kid.

I saw this recently in a local bookstore and it had the "50 Years and Counting" commemorative logo of Sesame Street. I knew I had to buy it!

Re-reading it as an adult really gave me the dosage of nostalgia I needed.

Not only does the book teach you about the colour, I dunno, perhaps, red but it also teaches you to not fuss about the small things and to always look at the bigger picture surrounding you.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 1977 Little Golden Book, Big Bird from Sesame Street promises the readers a red surprise he has in a sack. While he struggles to find his red surprise, events happen all around him filled with red things. The illustrations will engage young readers as they see all the action happening that Big Bird is oblivious to those events. Readers can be engaged to point out all the red things in the illustrations while we wait to discover Big Bird's surprise.

[Avery Hungrycaterpillar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to flip through this one, but I'm not sure I get the joke. Mama says it's that Big Bird doesn't see the red things, but I am still working on theory of mind, and *I* see the red things, so... what's so funny?

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Golden Books – Big Bird's Red Book
Nice to return to these first reads of mine.

[Shauna Ludlow Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t wait to read this book to my grandsons to see if they notice everything going on in the background. It’s funny. Classic Sesame Street.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever premise, but it overstays its welcome, and the various gags never quite cohere into a coherent organism

With a big re-write, this would be a triumph

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really well done. The kids were hooting with laughter at poor Big Bird’s struggles. The ending was hilarious, even I got up the giggles.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where has this book been all my life? I am so glad I finally discovered it. I had to re-read for the illustrations. They tell a complex and emotional story that is not to be missed!

[Becci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit confused about the plot because my mom read it to be and was flipping the pages too fast. Not suitable for my reading level.

[Valerie]

A new one on me. I never liked Big Bird as a child, for the same reason I didn't like Bob: they both seemed too smarmy to me. It was only when I reached adulthood that I began to realize how both of them were undercutting the saccharine roles they'd been assigned. I began to notice, for example, when I started hanging around show business types, that Big Bird had quite a fondness for old show business jokes.

I'll find out if this comes through in print.

It's not so good as it might be, though it's better than many. I'm not sure who Roseanne Cerf is: I believe she may be the daughter-in-law of Bennett Cerf, since Bennett Cerf's son, Christopher, has been a major songwriter for Sesame Street and related children's programming for many years.

One thing. Though I myself proposed Maria's Law ("Never argue probability with an eight-foot tall canary"), I still found it a bit implausible that even a city bird like Big Bird could be so oblivious to all that's going on around him. Has he no hearing? No peripheral vision? You'd think he'd notice SOMETHING, anyway.

This is another of the Little Golden Books I picked up. There were easily two dozen more, but I had to be a LITTLE selective, being mindful of shelf space and the state of my exchequer, and all.

[D'Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for fans of Grover's There's a Monster at the End of this Book, though Big Bird's Red Book seems to be out of print. A lot going on in the illustrations around a clueless Big Bird as he searches in vain for something red. A lot to notice and talk about while reading with a Kindergartener.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Big Bird is trying to teach the reader what red looks like. Unfortunately, he has misplaced his red item. The entire book consists of him looking for the item, all the while, red items pass by in the background. In the end, Big Bird ends up hilariously red-faced.

[Megan Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for teaching students about color (specifically red), and to predict what may happen next. Would be good for students that are learning to read, and to make observations about what happens in each picture.

[Tyson]

hello goodreads what are you doing now
i just want to tell you something about this book
well here it goes well ive already got this book


thanks goodreads

[Dubovoyalena]

Great book to teach students color. Also a great book to get students engaged and laughing