Look! "Before You Leap" is an amazing book

[Marky]

Got it for my birthday from my son. It takes some getting used to, but once you've locked yourself in the proper mind set, you can easily drift through it.

 

[BradFraggle]

Ditto

I agree that you cannot really call yourself a Muppet fan if you have no desire to get this book. It's one of the most amazing pieces of Muppet merchandise I've ever seen. Probably the best thing since Jim's death. It's just perfectly awesome, I could not have asked for more from it, it's just that good.

All Muppet fans need "Before You Leap."

I'll second that statement. I was going to write my thoughts, but they are pretty much the same.

This book is great. Go buy this book!

 

[BEAR]

I just got this book for my birthday and it is beautiful. I've already read a little bit and it's so good. Was happy to see a section dedicated to Sesame Street in there. This book is silly and funny, but also touching, poigniant and wise.

 

[Barry Lee]

Woooow. I just finished this, its truelly great. It really made me mushy gushy, ((haha)) but its truelly wonderful little book.

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

I know i got this book for christmas... and besides i know couse the other day i got the mail and the pakage was from B&N.com

 

[minor muppetz]

I got this book for christmas, and it's great. The autobiography section has a good mix of facts and fiction (an autobiography of a fictional character puts a limit on true behind-the-scenes facts). I can't decide which I like better, the autobiography part or the self-mprovement part. If this was an autobiography by a real person (especially a Muppet performer) I would have been upset that this book spends more chapters on self-improvement than on the works of that person.

I like many of the pictures that were used, especially the one with the cast outside of the Muppet theater. The picture of Big Bird looks like it was a still from his cameo in The Muppet Movie, with the background removed. Was it? There are a lot of cool pictures that I don't ever remember seeing before, but most of those pictures looked to me like they were taken in the 1970s or 1980s. I noticed that this book has three pictures of Kermit riding abicycle.

Some of my favortie things about the book, as well as some nitpicks:

*I liked the part in his biography sectionwhere Kermit mentions the names of many different Muppet characters, including minor characters who haven't been used in alongtime (I hope this is a sign that they'll return soon). It mentioned characters such as Louis Kazagger (misspelling his name as Louis Cazagger), Fleet Scribbler (who the original writers hated), Fletcherbird, and Betsy Bird (the only one-shot character mentioned here).

*It seems like when talking about his first few movies, Kermit mostly just talks about the titles as opposed to the movies themselves. He listed titles that he and his friends wanted for The Muppet Movie, then says that for The Great Muppet Caper that he wanted to do a movie that had the words "Muppet" and "Great" in the title without being sued for false advertising, and says that The Muppets Take Manhattan was originally going to be called The Muppets Take a Trip to Manhattan before the marquee hangers unionmade them shorten the title. And when talking about movies he does not mention any move released after Muppet Treasure Island (I would have thought that Kermit would have acknowledged Kermit's Swamp Years, since that is about his youth).

*I like how he manages to mention Jim Henson and other performers, and it's interesting that his current performer, Steve Whitmire, is mentioned last.

*Two of Kermit's Sesame Street songs, Tadpole and This Frog, are quoted.

*Eventually, Kermit says that he returned to prime time with Muppets Tonight. That's nice, but he didn't mention The Jim Henson Hour (or Muppet Babies, but that's not a prime-time series). And when talking about his new friends from Mupepts Tonight, he didn't mention that Clifford was the host (yes, Clifford debuted in JHH, but he still could have been mentioned).

*I looked inthe copyright section, and it says "Throughout this book, trademarked name are used, but instead of putting a trademark symbol after every occurance of a trademark name, they are being used here as an editorial fashion". I wonder about this. There are a lot of books that use trademarked names (especially guides on movies, videos, and TV shows), but those don't include such notes in the books credits, and I don't normally see trademark symbols next to copyrighted names in book text.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I don't know, I don't want to be a kill-joy. But if this was say, 10 years ago, I would have been thrilled with the idea of Kermit's autobiography. But now I'm a little more cautious. I really don't like the recent Piggy jokes. It's a shame that nearly every performer gets mentioned but Richard. That seems to happen a lot in the more modern Muppet publications.

But I'll try to at least look at the book in the store, just to give it a chance. It's definitely a cute idea.

Btw, I know Kermit technically wrote the book, but who "ghost wrote" it, if you get my meaning?

 

[Messy Piggy]

Got if for Christmas! Can't wait to dive in.

The title threw me a little (Look Before You Leap) since I'm getting married in a few months! My mom said she wasn't trying to tell me anything and that she does approve of the marriage. (Speaking of, does anybody have sheet music for TMTManhattan wedding?)

I'll post mine in a couple days, but what's everyone's favorite line/qoute from the book?

 

[Skye]

I don't know, I don't want to be a kill-joy. But if this was say, 10 years ago, I would have been thrilled with the idea of Kermit's autobiography. But now I'm a little more cautious. I really don't like the recent Piggy jokes. It's a shame that nearly every performer gets mentioned but Richard. That seems to happen a lot in the more modern Muppet publications.

But I'll try to at least look at the book in the store, just to give it a chance. It's definitely a cute idea.

Btw, I know Kermit technically wrote the book, but who "ghost wrote" it, if you get my meaning?

I know what you mean. Normally, I probably wouldn't have decided to read it, but since I got it as a gift, I might as well. I gotta say... I am a little intrigued by it!

I'm also curious about who "ghost wrote" it...

 

[CensoredAlso]

I get you, Skye, if I had gotten it as a gift, it would definitely be easier to make the decision to read it! I would be interested in your thoughts once you've had the chance.