Sesame book illustrations

[joinery]

My almost 1 year old daughter is turning into a Sesame fan (bless her heart). We have a few books and I'd like to get her some more but I have what you could call an aesthetic dilemma.

My preference is toward books that are illustrated with photographs of the Muppets (like "One Rubber Duckie" and "Big Bird Is Yellow"). I also have my old copy of Big Bird's Busy Book, where the illustrations, to me, capture the essence of the Muppets more than the more recent books. It's hard to put into words but a lot of Sesame Street books have illustrations that make the Muppet characters look "too cute" in a "cartoony" sort of way.

My question is, does anybody have recommendations of books I can look for on Ebay that are either illustrated with photographs or have really well drawn representations of Muppets?

Thank you,

Jim

 

[CensoredAlso]

Hi! It's great that your child is so into Sesame Street already. It must be very exciting to be able to introduce it all to her. I know what you mean, some book illustrations are better than others. Personally I always admired Joe Mathieu's work, as well as several others.

The Sesame Street Treasury series has both photos and cartoons, I'd definitely recommend those. They are probably occasionally available on Ebay and Amazon, as well as local libraries.

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_Treasury

The websites Muppet Wiki has a huge A-Z list of various Sesame Street books and what their covers look like, that can give some indication.

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_Books

As far as individual books go (with no particular illustrator in mind), I've always admired the following books: Grover Sleeps Over, Don't Forget the Oatmeal, Twiddlebugs at Work, Ernie's Big Mess, Ernie's Little Lie, Big Bird Joins the Carnival (sort of a book version of Follow That Bird, with a few differences), Where's My Blankie, A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital, A Visit to the Sesame Street Museum, Down on the Farm with Grover, Grover's Bad, Awful Day, Ernie Gets Lost, and of course The Monster at the End of this Book (that one's classic lol). These should all be included on the above list, as well as many others.

Tough Pigs.com also has screen grabs of entire classic books in their "Book Club." There is even some discussion on quality illustration:

http://www.toughpigs.com/bookclubernie01.htm

Hope this helps! Again, some of these can be hard to find nowadays, though not impossible. You'd have to do some hunting. It's a shame because children could really benefit. Good luck and hope your child continues to enjoy Sesame Street.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Tom Cooke's done a pretty good job on lots of Sesame Street books too. I've always liked "Bert and the Broken TeaCup"