1970's and 1980's SST Books1970's and 1980's SST Books

[dinoboy]

Years ago, I had a strong desire for the 1970's Sesame Street, as this was long before the Old School DVD's. I remember going to a huge thrift store and searched for hours in the children's book section for old Sesame Street books that had 1970's drawings of the Street the way it used to be. Although most of the books I got like Big Bird goes to the doctor, There's nothing to do, Big Bird moves out, yeah, I'm a fan of Big Bird. But surprisingly, for what I thought was 1970's books, some of them were made in the 1980's. I have a book about Oscar taking a trip away from Sesame Street and takes his trash can with him, it has a drawing of Sonia Manzano in it, as Big Bird hands her a bag of groceries he helped her carry to her apartment. I haven't seen her drawn in any Sesame Street story books for kids. But some of them I bought at garage sales or those indoor holiday craft fairs for about 10 cents each or I try and bargain with them, but you have to look and dig deep into those boxes of old children's books to find Sesame Street books. My last find was a Bert and Ernie book titles 'That Makes Me Angry." Nothing wrong with searching for a little nostalgia.

 

[fuzzygobo]

The very first Sesame books that ever came out, in 1970, were part of a series by Time/Life. They were supposed to be used as a teaching resource. These hardcover books included:
The Book of Shapes
The Book of Numbers
The Book of Letters
and one more whose title escapes me. But these books had artwork from some of the original cartoons, and street photos from the first season, including Orange Oscar.
I found these at a thrift store about ten years ago, for a quarter each. If they ever show up on ebay, they're worth a lot more than that.

Yes, you have to dig deep sometimes, but once in a while you'll find buried treasure. Happy hunting.

 

[cjd874]

I have a lot of vintage SS books too: nearly the whole SS Library, with covers drawn by Joe Mathieu, and the complete SS Treasury, with photos of poser puppets in comical situations. Not to mention The Monster at the End of this Book, Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree, Oscar's Book, the Big and Little Book, and several other book series (Growing Up, Start-to-Read, etc).

Dinoboy: the story you're thinking of is "Oscar Takes a Vacation," where Oscar can't stand the cheeriness and helping on the Street, so he begins a Grouch vacation, only to get on the wrong bus. He ends up on an autumnal tour of some sort, being forced to see the colorful trees, stand by the seashore and go to an outdoor market with fresh fruit, pies, and cider. Then as he's about to burst, he smells something that makes him happy. He follows the smell and finds the right tour: a Grouch tour of the dump!
It was part of the Sesame Street Goodnight Stories series book Big Bird's New Nest.
And Fuzzygobo: I think this is the book you're thinking of.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sesame_Street_Book_of_People_and_Things

 

[dinoboy]

I went to a fall festival at a church in our neighborhood, and within a booth selling old children's books, I saw a Sesame Street book titled "Ernie's Lost." Surprisingly, Maria is featured in this book. Ernie wants to get something for Bert's birthday, so Maria takes Ernie to PC Nickels department store (Name seemed almost like PC Richards or J.C. Penny's). Maria gives Ernie a special card with important info, incase he gets lost, and was told not wander off. They saw all kinds of things, but Ernie suddenly then mistakenly sees a new rubber ducky, which turns out to be a bar of yellow soap. Suddenly, Ernie can't find Maria anywhere. Poor Ernie's tummy felt like a stone and he began to cry, however he remembered the card, and came to a woman behind the counter in the umbrella dept. He then shows her his card and told her he's lost and needed help finding Maria. She then calls the pa to make an announcement for Maria to come to the umbrella dept to pick up Ernie. Maria comes to get Ernie, and they finish their shopping and then Ernie returns home to Sesame Street to give Bert his birthday present. Funny I once had a dream about this book, and Bert went to the store with Ernie instead of Maria.