Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story Of Making Sesame Street in Russia by Natasha Lance Rogoff, 5 stars

[Holly R W]

Sesame Street was not a part of my own childhood, but I watched it along with my son when he was young. As the book chronicles, during the years that we were watching, Sesame Street was being developed in Russia for their own young children. I never realized how strong of an impact Sesame Street made on me until I read this book.

The author, Natasha Rogoff, was a young woman herself when "The Children's Workshop" (as it was called back in the early 1990's) approached her to help them produce Sesame Street in Russia. The country was beginning to embrace democracy. It was thought that Sesame Street would be a good vehicle to provide both education and entertainment to Russia's children. What better ambassador for democracy could there be than Big Bird?

Rogoff had been working and living in Russia for ten years, making documentaries. Born and raised in the U.S., Rogoff was fluent in Russian and was thought to have contacts there. Little did Rogoff know just how difficult it would be to launch Sesame Street in Russia. It would take her and The Workshop five years of painstaking effort to achieve this. Rogoff would encounter all kinds of obstacles: mobsters, two would-be Russian producers getting assassinated, another Russian producer becoming bankrupt, and no less important, resistance from Russian entertainers and writers to many of Sesame Street's concepts.

Here are some things that touched me:

*When Rogoff played an American Sesame Street video that featured a child in a wheelchair happily talking to another kid, her Russian team gave her grief. "We can't do that here," they told her. They explained that it would make their children too sad. At that time, disabled kids were bed bound, due to not being able to afford wheelchairs.

*When Russian child actors (ages 4-8) were auditioned for roles in the show, they all sang adult songs that were similar to dirges. Lyrics were all about war and loss. There was no Russian equivalent to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". "These are the songs our children sing with their grandmothers," Rogoff was told.

Slowly, after exposure to the ideals behind Sesame Street and much thought/disagreement among themselves, the Russian team was able to create their own authentic and culturally sensitive Russian version of Sesame Street called "Ulitsa Sezam".

This was such an interesting read. Recommended for those readers who enjoy cross-cultural experiences.


For those who might want to listen to the author discuss her memoir, here is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME6g6...

This is the Russian opening to their show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvS28...

[Robin P]

I read this book last month and also gave 5 stars. Sesame Street came out when I was in college and some people my age found it entertaining. There are lots of puns and parody songs that kids don't get but adults do. My kids loved it and my son learned to read by himself from watching it. The cross-cultural misunderstandings and connections were fascinating. I also enjoyed the way the story of the show overlapped with the author's personal life.

Thanks for the links, I just listened to the song. I would have thought they would use the same music, but there's definitely a Russian feel to that one. I studied Russian in college, but could only make out the word "friends" and "Sesame Street".

[Holly R W]

Robin, how nice it is to discuss the book with someone who has read it! I see that it resonated with you also.

My husband and I were talking about Sesame Street this morning. It was so groundbreaking for its time. There was no other children's show like it. We all watched it with our children. Think how many people it reached. How awesome that your son taught himself to read from it!

Now it seems that there are several popular children's shows on T.V. and Sesame Street has lost some of its popular appeal. Our young great nephews and niece watch other shows.

I'm going to a 4 year old nephew's birthday party next week. My 6' tall brother will be dressing up as a popular T.V. character to delight him. He'll be a character that this nephew currently adores (but all new to me). In our day, the character would have been Big Bird!

[Theresa]

I was in high school when it aired, and it had a huge impact on my youngest sister, who is 11 years younger than me. Of course, being on everyday we all watched it to some degree, the characters and storylines were integrated into family teasing and games. We all loved the show.

In fact I wrote a term paper about the show for some class. Still have it somewhere - kept because I was proud of it, got a great grade and enthusiastic comments from teacher. I still think it was out of the box thinking for a high school student in the early 70s.

[Holly R W]

Theresa, you might enjoy the book. It certainly brought back a lot of memories for me.

It would be interesting to dig up your term paper and look at it again.

I think we all have a little kid in us. ;0)

[Jgrace]

When I began teaching kindergarten in 1981 the curriculum hadn't begun to adjust to the Sesame Street effect. Older teachers still expected incoming kids to lack any pre-reading skills. I had to document the fact that the vast majority of my class could name basic colors, identify numbers to 10, rote count to 20, and identify many alphabet letters. I have strong feelings about pushing academics too early, but Sesame Street (and similar media) was/is painless learning.

(I also had a Count hand puppet who lead rote counting to 100 with an appropriate accent.)

[Holly R W]

We're similar ages, Judith. I started my career in 1981 also. Through the years, I'm sure you could see how your kindergarten students changed with the skills that they entered school with. Sesame Street did make learning fun and easy. I like your Count puppet teaching counting to 100.

I remember that in my son's kindergarten class, he was taught letters and phonics with "The Letter People". And the 100th day of class was celebrated.

Fast forward to now. Kindergartners are supposed to enter school knowing so much more.

[LibraryCin]

This sounds really good! I was a kid in the 70s, so I did watch Sesame Street when I was little (in Canada, the skits were English and French, rather than the Spanish in the US).

Anyway, I didn't know they'd later done a Russian Sesame Street. On to the tbr it goes!

[NancyJ]

Holly this is a great review. Thanks for including the examples of the challenges she faced. The cross- cultural issues sound fascinating.

We must all be around the same age. I started my career in 1980.

Wow I remember when Sesame Street started. I was babysitting for a little girl named Allison. (She was at our house so much, my whole family still talks about her.) The mother would call on the phone for All-lee-son, saying she was Cookie Monster calling. It was so cute.

[Holly R W]

LibraryCin wrote: "This sounds really good! I was a kid in the 70s, so I did watch Sesame Street when I was little (in Canada, the skits were English and French, rather than the Spanish in the US).

Anyway, I didn't..."

Cindy, I think you'll like the book. I'll be interested in your thoughts.

Before reading the book, I had not known that Sesame Street reached out to other countries and helped them create their own versions for their own citizens. The author also worked for a short time in Mexico, learning from the Mexican team about their experiences in bringing Sesame Street to Mexico.

[Holly R W]

NancyJ wrote: "Holly this is a great review. Thanks for including the examples of the challenges she faced. The cross- cultural issues sound fascinating.

We must all be around the same age. I started my career ..."

Hi Nancy, I love what you shared about All-lee-son's mother calling her and pretending that she was Cookie Monster. What a nice memory!

I thought of you while reading the book. With your professional background, you might enjoy the dynamics of the ever-changing work-group coalescing in Russia. The author also had to contend with work group politics in Sesame Street's New York City offices. Given her young age, I think she did admirably well.

[Robin P]

The original idea of Sesame Street came from the way American children would ignore the TV, but when commercials came on, with music, movement and bright colors, they would pay attention. That's why Sesame Street would say "Today's episode was brought to you by the number 9 and the letter C", etc. But Russian families didn't have that tradition. Under the Soviets, there wasn't a culture of capitalist competition for selling products (lots of times there were hardly any products to buy!) There was resistance from adult Russians to having such a happy show for kids, a lot of the songs and fairy tales were dark, reflecting how the culture saw life.

I knew that Sesame Street was in many countries and adapted to include local customs in places like Mexico or Israel but I didn't know they made special Muppets, new songs, lots of cultural segments, etc. The author ends with the hope that even though this kind of programming was quashed by Putin, today's adults who grew up with it might have absorbed lessons that will help their society.